Red-Tailed Hawk

Next time you are walking on campus take a look up at the top of the light posts around you and chances are you will see a large bird on top of one of them. It seems every day when I park my car or head to the parking lot after work I can find a Red Tailed Hawk perched above me. Sometimes I am luckier and the hawk will be flying overhead showing off its massive wingspan. 

The bird you see is most likely a Red-Tailed Hawk. If you haven’t seen a Red-Tailed Hawk on campus, you may have seen one perched high atop a utility pole along the highway. Heck, I’ve even seen one at Mid Rivers Mall’s parking lot! The Red-Tailed Hawk is one of the most common hawks in North America. This hawk is a large bird of 2-4 pounds with a wingspan of 43 to 57 inches. There are many color variations but most red-tailed hawks have a dark brown back, pale underparts and a brick colored tail. The Red-Tailed Hawks I have seen on campus tend to have brown and white streaks on their underparts. They almost look spotted from afar. This coloration makes it easy for them to blend into the rocks and camouflage themselves while hunting for prey. Something I find interesting is that not all Red-Tailed Hawks have a red tail because the Red-Tailed Hawk is actually a grouping of 14 sub-species (some of which do not have the red tail). Also, the female hawk is larger than the male. These raptors have strong, hooked beaks and a loud voice that has been compared to a steam whistle. The call of the Red-Tailed Hawk is frequently used in media as a generic raptor sound effect even if the bird is not a Red-Tailed Hawk.

The Red-Tailed Hawk has keen eyesight. It can spot a mouse from the height of 100 feet. The hawk’s eyesight is 8 times as powerful as humans. They are efficient hunters which makes them a great bird for falconry (the art of training falcons for hunting). However, falconers can only use the hawks for falconry if the bird has left the nest and has yet to reach its breeding age (around 2 years old). Otherwise the birds are protected by law.

Red-Tailed Hawks eat everything from small Beetles to Jackrabbits twice their weight. Rodents comprise up to 85% of the Red-Tailed Hawk’s diet. They also eat mice, ground squirrels and lizards. Sometimes the Red-Tailed Hawk has to compete with Crows over carcasses. The Great Horned Owl is also a competitor to the hawk because it hunts the same prey and uses the same foraging method. The Red-Tailed Hawk also competes with the Owl for nest sites. The most predation of these hawks occurs with eggs and nestlings being taken by owls and raccoons. 

Something I read about but have yet to witness is the mating ritual of the monogamous Red-Tailed Hawk. It is an acrobatic display in which the birds dive and roll in the sky before falling to the earth. They even grab ahold of one another with their talons before breaking apart. They later nest in trees and incubate their eggs for 30 days. (Both the male and female incubate the eggs.) Young hawks are called “eyeasses” and after 42-46 days they begin leaving the nest for short flights. This fledgling period lasts up to 10 weeks. It is during this time in which the birds learn to fly and hunt. I wish I could see a baby hawk. Maybe the hawks around here will lay some eggs! 

I chose to write about this bird today because of one particular red-tailed hawk that frequents our campus.  Just outside my window across the lake there are rocks that soak up the sun and provide a nice warm perch for birds to sit. Every day at some point I look outside and a Red-Tailed Hawk is staring in the direction of the bookstore. He/she sits on the highest rock and perches proudly. Almost as if he/she is guarding me. I’m sure it is just looking for food or taking a break from hunting, but it is still reassuring to sometimes tell myself that it is actually my guardian-hawk looking after me! 

The Red-Tailed Hawk is just one more species of feathered friends that SCC is home to and I am constantly grateful for its presence.