Flight of the mystery bird

Flight of the mystery bird, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

From my window, I can see the top of a tree over the roof of the next building. The top branch of this tree is dead and leafless, and I call it the bird branch, because birds love to perch there. It's usually full of starlings or grackles, and I often see small falcons there -- I think they're peregrine falcons. I've seen cardinals and bluejays there, too.

There hasn't been much action in the bird branch over the last few weeks, since it's been so cold, but twice recently I've seen this huge raptor-type bird up there. I mean this guy is HUGE. Above is a picture I snapped of him as he was flying away. Here he is in the bird branch, taking up the whole damn tree:

bird in bird branch, originally uploaded by squiddity of toronto.

Who knew there were falcons this big in downtown Toronto? Lock up your yappy little lapdogs!

If you have any guesses as to what kind of bird this is, please leave me a comment.