Massachusetts mother, daughter's close call with territorial hawk caught on camera

    NEEDHAM, Massachusetts (WCVB) -- Surveillance video shows the scary moment when a red-tailed hawk swooped down at a mother and her 2-year-old daughter while they were playing outside in Needham, Massachusetts this week.

"I was just playing with my daughter and then I saw this huge bird just, you know, coming for us," said Maya Lim.

Lim grabbed her daughter, Mave, and dodged the diving raptor on Wednesday.

"My first instinct was to protect her, get her away. Everything happened so fast," Lim said.

"I've pretty much seen it all. I've never seen this," said John Blakeman, a raptor biologist who has studied hawks for 50 years. "This is uncommon for red-tails."

Blakeman speculated that the hawk's nest might be nearby and that the bird was likely trying to send a message to the family.

"She was not trying to kill the girl, take her off, and feed her babies. She was just being a good red-tailed hawk mother and defending her territory," Blakeman said.

The Lims and their neighbors continue to see the hawk perched in the area.

"Now we're thinking about how far we should be from her at all times," Lim said.