The black negative shape inside the bird throws me off - appears to be no relationship to the form of a hawk or eagle (not an expert on birds, show me if there is!). Looks kind of ax-ish. From a picky craft perspective, you want to refine any rounded edges - avoid the dings. Things may start to look more professional if you develop a system of consistency and refine the amount of space between the shape of the bird and the white outlining stroke.

In regards to its success - well there's no context. Right now, it's very football team-ish. Why don't you set some constraints for yourself? Make this same logo for a football team, a coffee shop, a ski resort, a hotel, and a construction company.

Graphic design's success or quality can't be judged in isolation; GD has a large part to do with the way graphic communication affects the attitude of its audience. GD goes beyond the aesthetics. Quality in GD is measured by the impact it produces in its audience. So without you introducing what kind of audience you have, we can't give you an encompassing critique on the overall quality of the logo.

.... back to writing my final paper on art vs. design.

Even knowing what it is supposed to be and looking at it for a full two minutes, I cannot make heads or tails of it.

Something like this should be instantly recognizable.

Can you not see the rhino with a bag over his head, tied around his horn, and his hands tied behind his back, and about to be executed? Thats why his tail is up between his legs.

I see a turtle's head over a do-do bird.

honestly at first glance it reminds me of the buffalo sabres image... ok so im a huge hockey fan, and was just thinking i need to get tix to the next game... but still...

It's a bit hard to make out. You should try to simplify the defining lines that make up the shape.

I see the beak, but where's the aggressive looking eye that is so customary with eagles and hawks?

Given that there is no eye, I was not sure at first glance if that was a beak or a claw.

In agreement w/the negative space dead center. That throws the eyeflow off entirely.