When I was living in Montana, Washington State University did a study on
owls and found that after closely studying the contents of "owl pellets"
(you can look that one up) that about 75% of their diet consisted of house
cat, domestic or feral I have no idea. They don't swoop down and pick these
animals up and a bird as small as an osprey can take out a cat.  They go
into a dive and hit them like a cannon ball in the back, break their spines
and then eat them where they lay, dead or otherwise. I saw a red tail hawk
nail a fox that probably was 4-5 times it's size and was eating on it before
the fox was even dead. It's the food chain, it's the way it works, life is
not Disney.

I've seen bald eagles carry away salmon, trout and snakes but I have never
seen them carry anything that would weigh more than they do. If you've ever
seen a bird of prey take a snake they crack it like a whip to kill it if
it's still alive after they dive on it. The reason they fly  off with a fish
is that they can't sit in a fast running river to eat it, getting it to land
is the main objective. They drop more than they get to shore.

I doubt if an owl or hawk would swoop down on a cat on a porch unless it had
a pretty clear fly way but it could kill it pretty easily if the cat goes
out into an open area. Birds of prey tend to eat what they kill where they
kill or take it down unless they are disturbed.  I assume you live in the
city so probably traffic, dogs, other cats and coyotes would be more of a
danger.

That hawk you see is more than likely watching the same birds your cats are.
Those they can catch in the air, sometimes. Or they will hit them and then
go to where they drop. Maybe you have a field near by it's watching for
snakes and rodents. Birds of prey are pretty fascinating creatures to
observe. I live in the city now and have bird feeders on my balcony and my
cat spends a lot of time watching them. We have several red tail hawks that
show up regularly to scope things out. I know when they are around because
my bird feeders have no customers, the little birds hide out till the hawk
moves on to an easier hunting territory.

Val

Thank you all for your input, you all had some new and interesting
information on the Hawk and it's prey.  We also looked up some pictures
of the bird and we are pretty sure it's the red tail hawk.  My husband
had his binoculars out this morning and saw how huge it's wing span
was.

We will only let our cats out on the patio when we are constantly with
them, I would never take a chance of them being injured.  Hoping that
it finds a new place to live and doesn't hang around too long but where
we live there are plenty of squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits, so he's
likely to hang around for awhile.  Thank you all for the replies.
Denise