Red tailed hawks

[rachunter]

I just saw two red tailed hawk lock talons and twirle to the ground. I couldn't see where they landed. Anyone ever seen that before? It's a first for me I watch them all day at work. 

[turkeyfeathers]

Believe it's a mating dance of sorts.
Just was glassing a mature bald eagle at 200 yards. Right across the street from sighting last year. Even got to watch a tail lift and power squirt out at poop. Lol.


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[ny hunter]

I think it's mating also....

[rachunter]

There flying around together now. I hope they do that again it was pretty cool. 

[Curmudgeon]

Very cool. Usually they do it early in the breeding season. I've not heard of them doing it this late. Some young will have already fledged.

Once, I watched 2 bald eagles do that then immediately fly to a branch to copulate.

 

[rachunter]

They must be building a nest one of them just snapped a branch of a tree and flew away with it. 

[Curmudgeon]

They are obviously in breeding mode, just running 4 months late. I wonder if one of them lost a mate and this is a new relationship. The timing is all out of whack. My guess is they will use the nest next year. It may or may not be a new nest. They could be fixing up an existing one.  

[rachunter]

i don't know how to age a hawk but this one seemed young it took it a while to figure out how to break and hold the branch it dropped the first one  then fumbled around with the second one before flying off.i can/do watch them all day.

2 hours ago, Curmudgeon said:

They are obviously in breeding mode, just running 4 months late. I wonder if one of them lost a mate and this is a new relationship. The timing is all out of whack. My guess is they will use the nest next year. It may or may not be a new nest. They could be fixing up an existing one.  

 

[Curmudgeon]

If it has a red tail, it is an adult. However, in some raptor species, a bird may be able to breed before reaching adult plumage. Juvenile red-tailed hawks have a brown tail that has bands. The banding may not be visible from a distance. 

[left field]

Curmudgeon, are you well versed in raptors?

I have a med sized grey/brown hawk that hangs around my property. Heavy woods.

I think he's too small to be a Goshawk -- though I do have a lot of gos around -- and he primarily eats small rodents, snakes, toads. I have seen him for two years (assuming it's the same bird) and he hasn't coloured up, so I don't think he's a juvenile red-tailed. 

Broad-winged?

 

[Curmudgeon]

Broad-winged is a possibility. Adults will have a distinctly banded black and white tail. Red-shouldered is another possibility. Adult red-shouldered will have a black tail with thin white bands. A Cooper's Hawk is medium sized and lives in forests but they don't favor cold blooded prey. They generally eat birds, occasionally small mammals. 

Of those 3, broad-winged is very likely to eat herps, though red-shouldered do too. You should have noticed the distinct black and white bands if it was a broad-winged. I attached a photo.

[left field]

Thanks. That may be it. I don't see any colour on the shoulders or upper body.

I was a little surprised by the prey. I had a large woodpile that he used to sit above and pick off mice, but I moved it so maybe he's now hunting the ponds. Kind of cool watching him tear a snake apart in a tree.  

[Pygmy]

Red tails eat  snakes, too...I have seen several of them do it...Of course, the red tails are so  voracious and I think they will take ANYTHING they can kill..  I have seen them attack adult woodchucks and an adult hen turkey, which was OPTIMISTIC  to say the least..

Edited June 12, 2017 by Pygmy

[left field]

Had a Kestrel eating a moth on the window ledge of my NYC apt. That was cool.

Still waiting for a Golden Eagle sighting in the Catskills.