Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Spark Bird: Maya Higa and Bean

November 25, 2022 When Maya Higa started interning at a zoo, she wasn't especially into birds — until she began rehabilitating a Red-tailed Hawk named Bean. Meanwhile, Maya was doing live-streams of herself singing and playing guitar on the website Twitch, just for fun, to a pretty small audience. The video

Flying with Birds and Bats

February 23, 2022 Bats and birds have evolved very different ways of flying. Birds have stiff feathers projecting from lightweight, fused arm and hand bones; bats have flexible wings of membranes stretched between elongated fingers. While birds use the strong downstroke of their wings to fly, bats support

Rodney Stotts on Becoming a Falconer

February 4, 2022 Rodney Stotts decided to become a falconer after years of working with injured raptors and teaching young people about wildlife. When he reached out to potential mentors, some couldn’t picture him, a Black man, as a falconer. But Rodney eventually found a mentor and began training and

Freeway Hawks

December 27, 2021 Driving the freeway or a narrow country road, you may glance up at a light pole where a large hawk sits in plain view. If it's brown and somewhat mottled, and its small head and short tail make it appear football-shaped, it's probably a Red-tailed Hawk. During winter, many Red-tailed Hawks

Birds of Prey and Nesting Territories

November 21, 2021 Red-tailed Hawks typically have a nesting territory of about a half-mile to a full square mile, depending on how much food there is. Bald Eagles’ nesting territories range from 2½ square miles to as much as 15 square miles, for the same reason. But the Gyrfalcons in Finland and Scandinavia

Spark Bird: Walter and Patch

November 5, 2021 Sculptor and musician Walter Kitundu first became enraptured by birds in 2005 when a Red-tailed Hawk flew four feet above his head. He named the bird Patch, after the white patch on the back of her head, and kept returning to the park to see her. Patch became used to Walter, accepting him

HawkWatch

September 8, 2021 After hawks and eagles, some of the sharpest eyes belong to hawk-watchers, experienced spotters who count raptors during spring and fall migration. Groups like HawkWatch International organize census counts of hawks (like this Red-tailed Hawk) and other raptors. HawkWatch sites lie along

Red-tailed Hawk, Bulky Bird

March 1, 2021 The Red-tailed Hawk is the most common and widespread hawk in North America. Red-tails often perch on fence posts in rural areas or even atop lights along the roadway. Watch for a large, bulky, football-shaped bird with a small dark head and a rusty-red tail. These hawks visit open fields

Another BirdNote Quiz

August 19, 2020 This quiz features - an American Robin ... - an Olive-sided Flycatcher, like this one ... - a Red-tailed Hawk ... - a Steller's Jay, which you're most likely to hear west of the Rockies ... - and a Blue Jay, usually seen east of the Rockies. Support for BirdNote comes from American Bird

Soaring with Redtails

July 30, 2020 A Red-tailed Hawk soars on broad, rounded wings, the epitome of effortless flight. Without flapping, it traces a leisurely, rising circle. The hawk is riding a thermal, a column of warm rising air generated near the earth's surface by heat from the sun. The Red-tail periodically circles to

Riding with Red-tails

February 8, 2020 Traveling home after a flight into Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport, you might share a ride on the shuttle with a Red-tailed Hawk! To protect passengers, planes, and birds, airport biologists Steve Osmek and Bud Anderson capture raptors for relocation away from the airport. Then, as a public

Raptor Breeding

April 14, 2018 It's April, but Great Horned Owls have been busy at their nests for two months. Golden Eagles are on their nests as early as the beginning of March. And Red-tailed Hawks (like this one) begin early, too. Why do these birds of prey nest so early? It takes a long time to raise a baby hawk or

Red-tails and Airports

March 25, 2018 To protect passengers, planes, and birds at Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport, biologists Bud Anderson of the Falcon Research Group and Steve Osmek capture, relocate, and monitor Red-tailed Hawks. The birds are banded, wing-tagged, and released 80 miles north. Bud says, “Almost none of them come

Honeybees and Red-tails

August 20, 2016 BirdNote writer, Todd Peterson, is also a beekeeper. His spring and summer labors in the apiary have long been accompanied by the cry of Red-tailed Hawks that nest in the woods nearby. If it survives its first two years, a Red-tailed Hawk can live from 10 to 15 years. Red-tails and other

Highways as Habitat for Hawks

February 18, 2016 In 1956, the Eisenhower Administration announced plans for the nation’s new interstate highway system. Planners foresaw 41,000 miles of superior highways, with a grassy border on either side and down the middle. The grassy areas created ribbons of wildlife habitat occupied by small mammals

Pale Male

September 9, 2014 2014: In New York City's Central Park, you can see the country's most famous Red-tailed Hawk. He's named Pale Male because of his unusually light coloring. And he has a multi-million-dollar view from his nest on a co-op building above Fifth Avenue. Pale Male first set up housekeeping in

Bird's Eye View I

October 18, 2013 From its lofty outlook, this Red-tailed Hawk commands "a bird's eye view." The Oxford English Dictionary defines that as "a view of a landscape from above, such as is presented to the eye of a bird." Debate continues about birds' visual acuity, but we do know that visual acuity is keenest

Red-tailed Hawks Take the Bus

February 23, 2012 Travel into Seattle from Sea-Tac airport, and you might share the shuttle with a Red-tailed Hawk! To protect planes, passengers and birds, airport biologists Steve Osmek and Bud Anderson are capturing and relocating raptors. They band and wing-tag the hawks, then release them in the Skagit

Bird's Eye View II

October 21, 2009 Some birds, like this Red-tailed Hawk, possess amazingly highly developed eyesight. Just what makes birds' eyes so special, their eyesight so remarkable? It has to do with the muscles that give them an astonishing ability to focus and to change focus. Birds have muscles that carry out both

Hawkwatch - Chelan Ridge

October 15, 2009 You're at 5000 feet in the Cascade Mountains. Overhead, a Red-tailed Hawk catches an updraft. The Chelan Ridge Raptor Migration site is the best location in Washington State to see migrating raptors. The U.S. Forest Service and HawkWatch International are partners in a large network of