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Birds @ Wings
American Crow
Bald Eagle
Belted Kingfisher
Blue Jay
Canada Goose
Common Loon
Golden Eagle
Great Blue Heron
Great Horned Owl
Lewis' Woodpecker
Osprey
Pine Grosbeak
Red-tailed Hawk
Rufous Hummingbird
Steller's Jay
Swans
Warbling
Verio
Western Meadowlark
Wood Duck
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Red-tailed Hawk
 Recognition
The Red-tailed hawk's best field marks are the broad, fan-shaped, reddish
tail, and the dark belly band. The tail of the immature hawk is dark and
streaked.
Haunts
Red-tailed hawks are one of the most conspicuous and best known raptors as
they are often seen and heard soaring overhead or perched on top of trees
and poles along our road ways. They prefer a mixture of open fields
interspersed with woodlands.
Schedule
Migrant Red-tails return in late March or early April, sometimes finding
their nests pre-empted by earlier nesting Great Horned Owls. The fall
migration peaks in mid September.
Field Notes
They most often watch for prey from a perch near an open field. When
spotted the Red-tail takes off with powerful wing beats, then glides and
snatches the prey from the ground. Their main food is rodents, however,
their diet can include: bats, mice, rats, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks,
muskrats, weasels, skunks, porcupines, domestic cats, waterfowl, chickens,
grouse, owls, meadow larks, snakes, toads, frogs, salamanders,
grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, earthworms and fish. (Where's the
veggies?)
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