Tag: red-tailed hawk

On the Hunt

December 3rd, 2019

Red-tailed hawks are pretty common and if you keep your eyes peeled anywhere in the country, you just may see one yourself.

I have seen three red-tailed hawks in the last month alone. I saw one slowly circling the sky over the National Arboretum. I saw a red-tailed hawk perched on a utility pole on Massachusetts Avenue and then I saw one perched on the ridge of a gabled roof in Chevy Chase.

There is a good chance all three hawks were hunting. These raptors have excellent vision, which enables them to identify their prey from afar. Red-tailed hawks monitor the ground they are perched or flying above, watching for some small creature, like a mouse or a squirrel, to capture. When they see one, they pounce: swooping down to catch the rodent with their powerful feet.

I found a pretty awesome three-minute video of some red-tailed hawks hunting bats in Texas. It is called Red Tailed Hawk Hunts Bats and is from the good folks at BBC Earth. If you have the time, you should definitely check it out!

XOXO,
Bernice
Grand Theft Nest

February 26th, 2019

Some birds build their nests. Some birds use abandoned nests other birds have built. I am going to give the latter category of bird the benefit of the doubt and assume that when they move into a found nest, they usually think it is uninhabited.

Louisa and I have been watching the National Arboretum Bald Eagle Nest Cam quite a lot and a couple of red-tailed hawks have recently been eyeing the bald eagles’ nest with the seeming intent of taking it for themselves. Scoundrels! It seems to me that the hawks know darned well the nest is not vacant.

Can you imagine how outraged the eagles must be? They designed, built and have maintained their nest for years. How irritating it must be to have to defend it from would-be thieves (don’t worry if you missed the livestream footage of the eagles defending their home – there is a video on YouTube you can still see).

Long ago I saw a similar scene: two downy woodpeckers came home to find their nest occupied by two tufted titmice. Alas, the woodpeckers appeared to be on the losing end of that conflict. From what I witnessed the tufted titmice were not going to move out. How frustrating it must have been for the woodpeckers to need to go peck a new nesting-cavity out of a different tree. Hopefully their new home was better than the one they lost – a possible silver lining. A girl can always hope!

Tag: red-tailed hawk

On the Hunt

Grand Theft Nest