We have a Cooper’s Hawk that has more or less set up shop in a large bush in our back yard. I think he may roost there, or at least he spends a lot of time there just hanging out. I can tell when he’s out there because the birds totally disappear, but not the squirrels.
The other day, I saw the hawk perched on a limb and a squirrel scurried by, brushing up against the raptor. I often wonder how the squirrels know that a certain hawk won’t eat them, but they somehow sense it.
When a red-tailed hawk flies over, that’s a different story. The squirrels disappear.
Both squirrels and birds have the innate ability to sense when a predator is nearby and dangerous. Birds use the flock system and if one sees something amiss, they all hightail it and don’t come out until the threat is gone.
I have plenty of squirrels and do not begrudge any hawks from having a meal, but I hate it when they attack my songbirds.
That’s why I like to have a few crows around and I keep them in scattered corn. Crows don’t like hawks of any description and when my crows are in the yard, the hawks disappear. It all works out in Nature.