A big owl used to land in a nearby tree near one of my treestands at the Pocket. That owl took out a lot of rabbits. They never knew what hit them, the owl swooped down from his limb, only a short distance away, and sunk his long talons in exactly the right spot to instantly kill the rabbit. The hawk is a different type of hunter. He doesn't sit and wait.
Hawks are on the move, always looking for a field mouse, a rabbit, or some other hawk fare.
In the woods they frequently fly below treetop level and when they spy something on their grocery list they go for them immediately. A big hawk will dig his talons in at full speed and go airborne with the rabbit. I can not hear a hawk in flight. But a rabbit can. The rabbits at the Hammer Hole always manage to give the hawks the slip.