Driving north on Cherry Street Sunday evening, Linda and I were thrilled to see a large Cooper’s Hawk perched directly under the Roosevelt Middle School sign at Central Tech.

We circled the block and parked, and walked within 10 yards of the hawk, discovering that it had a rabbit in a death grip. The bird flew into the school’s front lawn, rabbit in tow, then decided to fly to the flagpole at the Central entrance to wait us out. American Robins and crows didn’t like that idea much and pestered the hawk relentlessly.

After a good 15 minutes, the hawk flew over the school, and we followed through the drive on the north end of the property. No bird was visible on the backside of the school — not near the track, and the rooftops or in the sky. Sure enough, the hawk had circled back around and dropped on the rabbit for an overdue meal.