We've had one of these dudes in our (wooded) back yard. *Everything* freezes when it alights - even our backup, auxiliary cat. That (stupid) cat's not afraid of anything except this big-@ss owl.
You're cat isn't stupid, he/she's actually very smart. That owl could take her out. Woodsy doesn't play.
We were hanging out on the roof of our old apartment watching the sunset a few years ago, and we saw a hawk drop with such velocity and stun a pigeon that it made this loud 'boom'. He landed talons first, but he could have easily taken a small mammal like a cat. I heard about a hawk (I think this was out in MD) dropping on a woman's little dog, can't remember if it was a yorkie or something else, and she fended the hawk off eventually, but the tug of war and intial slam from the hawk tore the dog up pretty badly. He needed medical attention, but he survived. Probably didn't want to go outside anymore, though...
