365 Urban Species. #045: Red-tailed Hawk

[urbpan]

Photos by cottonmanifesto

Urban Species #045: Red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis

The red-tailed hawk has earned its place as the contemporary living emblem of urban nature. It seems to thrive in the city, uninvited, unencouraged, and seemingly incongruous with the man-made landscape. There are few real predators living in the midst of the glass and steel towers.

One of the first actions taken by humans when they claim land is to purge it of predatory animals. So it was with hawks: shot on sight when they were thought to menace the farmer's chickens, most species see a calamitous drop in population when human settlements spread. In the United States during the twentieth century, a series of laws was enacted to protect birds of prey. Their numbers have slowly increased over the past few decades, and today a hawk is not an uncommon sight, in almost any kind of environment.

Red-tails are fortunate to feed on those prey species that tend to increase with human use of the land. Squirrels, chipmunks, voles and rats are the most common mammals taken, while ducks, crows, and pigeons are common feathered food. The exponential growth of paved roads in America during the latter half of the previous century has ensured a steady supply of roadkill, a source of food that red-tails are not above.

Red-tails are in many cases responsible for human awareness of urban nature. When a city-dweller looks up and sees a large raptor soaring overhead, or perched on a ledge, it awakens the bond with wilderness inherent in all. The relatively new genre of urban nature documentary owes much to the red-tailed hawk. They are the heroes of Pale Male and the villains of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.






A juvenile red-tailed hawk (red tail feathers grow in with adulthood)


Red-tail feeding on a mallard.

Comments

[aemiis-zoo.livejournal.com]

I like red-tailed hawks. So beautiful! =)

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Wow. Did that hawk actually kill the mallard or just scrounge it? (Not that you'd necessarily know). I didn't think a red-tail could take out a bird that size. Impressive.

That roadkill also contributes to their getting hit by cars.

[amazingrando.livejournal.com]

<3

[amazingrando.livejournal.com]

my browser won't show the < 3 I left for the red-tails :(

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Yes, they can. My Redtail had no trouble with 8-9lb English brown hares as long as she grabbed the front end... they can take prey much bigger than they are.

What's impressive about taking a mallard is that a mallard's much faster in the air, not to mention slippery and agile and able to dive underwater too. Though I did know a captive redtail who took one once. The great thing about Redtails as falconry birds is their brains - after a few years they really learn to play to their strengths and they get very deadly indeed.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I saw it in my email! It must have mistaken it for incomplete html.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

We (cottonmanifesto and I came across the bird in the park. We had no camera. She ran off to 7-11 and bought a disposable and shot that picture which became the cover for UrbPan #4.) didn't see the hawk make the kill, but I have no doubt that it could. The mallard was most likely on the edge of the water when it was killed--not in the air where it probably could outfly the hawk, or in the water where it could dive.

At work we have four rth. One was shot, one is blind in one eye (see icon) and two were probably hit by cars while eating carrion. See also: roadkill opossums, skunks, crows and probably dogs (and our broken-wing turkey vulture).

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Lots of education owls were hit by cars, too. Good way to damage an owl's eyes.

I hadn't ever thought about it, but someone once told me that most predators, when threatened, will do a nice display to try to scare off the threat instead of running away. Effective against a coyote, maybe, but not as good against a Cadillac.

[miz-geek.livejournal.com]

Cool. Now that I think of it, duck hunting is mostly what falconers do (at least around here).

I didn't know you had a redtail (or did at one time). Wow. They are damn smart when it comes to food.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It was a long time ago, before I fucked my life up - although I've done a fair bit of un-fucking-up now, I'm in a first floor apartment with no car and I don't know if I'll ever be able to be an active falconer again. I don't even have any pictures of her left.

Redtails are the most awesome birds. Some people see them as less special than the longwings and so forth because they're relatively common, but they're so clever and brave and versatile and have so much character. My Camilla even had a sense of humour - she used to get a kick out of stealing people's hats when she was flying. I never realised a bird could laugh before...

[ankhanu.livejournal.com]

That answers my question as to whether or not you guys shot the photo with the mallard AND explains the image quality :)

[ankhanu.livejournal.com]

I consider them kind of special... more special than bald eagles. Could just be due to relative numbers of the two species around here in recent years, though. The past two years, I've been noticing more red-tails around than in the past, oh, let's say 7-10 years.

Awesome birds to sight.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

No wild ones round here (in the UK) - but I do see European buzzards on a semi-regular basis, since I live right on the edge of town, very close to farm land. It's great to see them circling above the big shopping centre :-D

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I think it's pretty good for an off-brand disposable camera. :) Fortunately, the bird didn't care much that I was there, and I got within about 4 feet of it.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I think there are just so many mallard (like up to 40 or so in a group) that one of them is going to be stupid or lame or something. And, when they're faced with an arial predator, they all cluster around together, keeping an eye on it. Yesterday, we saw one fly over a group of mallards in the river. The ducks quacked worriedly and all the mallards within hearing range rushed right over.

[http://users.livejournal.com/purplebunnie_/]

I've always loved red-tailed hawks. They're native to N.Ca where I grew up, and because of my close relations with the Aujamawi band of Pit River, "brother" is the immediate thought that comes to mind when I see one.

[phlogiston-5.livejournal.com]

I once stood five feet from the redtail that lived on the TCNJ campus and watched it disembowl a squirrel. I have no idea why it let me get THAT close to it, but it didn't seem to notice me at all. Boy do I wish I had a camera with me when that happened, but at least the bird left behind a big red feather for me. I suppose it might have been raised/rehabilitated by humans and then released, so it might have been used to people being nearby.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Opossums, skunks, and armadilloes all have great defenses against predators that don't work against cars.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I think while feeding they let people get pretty close. Twice I've gotten close to them eating ducks, once I was close to one eating a crow. In the past couple decades they seem to have lost a lot of fear of humans--I would imagine they would be especially habituated in densely populated places (like NJ and Mass.)

[markurock.livejournal.com]

This has been a really cool post! I'm in the chapter in my Guide to Woodland Park Zoo, about the raptor center. I'll be finishing that up post my posting;P. Anyhoo... The WPZ Raptor Center had a Red - tail, a Golden Eagle, and a Western Screech owl. I'd debated adding them to the raptor center chapter, but will relligate them to one of the last chapters of the guide 'Past Residence of the Zoo'. Saying that, cuz the Red - tailed hawk is a raptor I've just scowered a ton of info about... and they are a very cool and exciting bird!
It was cool to read about lizblakdog and the experience of having one... oh, wow! That would be too damn cool, I think.
After reading about all of the various raptors, any of the falconing birds (Peregrine, Kestrel, Golden eagle), would be so cool to work with...
Love the posts! Urbpan, you rock!
Thanx all, cuz 1. This is kinda entertaining and educational for me! 2. Hearing from all of the cool things that others experience or know about... again, WOW!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm grateful to have so many knowledgeable people commenting on this series of posts. It makes it much more interesting than if I were doing it in a vacuum. I'm lucky to have a good mix of well-read and experienced folks on my friends list. I heartily encourage anyone who has something to contribute to do so.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize when I posted it, but that's a pretty low-res copy. It's probably third generation at best.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should scan the print that's hanging up?

[markurock.livejournal.com]

Thanx, I probably would have... just needed to run. As you are reading this, I'm mildly partying down, as I've just finished chapter 9 and have already broken ground on ten!!!!!! I'm a bit excited! Now I get to do Gray wolves!
But for sure, I've also found all of the floks here very knowledgable and cool. And I'll for sure post any thing that may be a good addition in the future.
I guess too, I'm appreciative of your postings!

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

I've seen Pale Male! There was an ultra-cool/fancy/expensive/large telescope with monitors set up in Central Park one time. That was before they tore his nest out. He is a beautiful animal and I'm glad he's sticking around.