RED-SHOULDERED HAWK

By Cecily Nabors

The backyard falls silent; birds vanish. Enter, stage left: A Red-shouldered Hawk glides in on long, narrow wings. Its body and underwings are chestnut, flight feathers and tail striped black and white, shoulders a rusty red. The bird drifts up to a central tree branch, settles its feathers, and stares about. Even in leaf-dappled light, that russet-gold beauty and fierce gaze compel respect.

Then the fussing starts. Wrens, chickadees, and titmice dart through the branches above the hawk, drawing attention to the concealed raptor. Often, the hawk will fly off, as if satisfied to have proved its mastery. Seen in flight, Red-shouldered Hawks show a crescentshaped translucent patch contouring the tip of each wing. This distinctive “wing window” is a defining field mark for the species.

Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) are birds of the forested wetlands. Permanent residents in the Mid-Atlantic, these middlesized hawks hunt areas that have tall trees and water—swamps, edges of rivers and creeks, wood margins, even our suburbs. While Red-shouldereds will sometimes eat small birds, a hunting hawk is much more interested in finding small mammals, amphibians, or rodents, or a snake in the grass. The hawk will swoop down from its perch, snatch the snake, and either start tearing strips off it right there, or fly away to the nest with the snake dangling from its talons.

Nesting season starts early for these big birds of prey. Courtship begins in late winter. The male performs a soaring “sky dance” display and the pair makes tandem flights accompanied by loud “Kee-aah” calls. By February, they are engaged in nest-building or refurbishing a prior year’s nest, usually beneath the canopy of a tall deciduous tree in a fairly open area near water. The pair works together to bring sticks and wedge them into a fork where a sturdy limb meets the trunk, 35–50 feet above the ground. They line the nest with soft materials like mosses or lichens, adding a sprinkling of downy breast feathers.

The youngsters stay in the nest for about six weeks. After fledging, they are fed by the parents for another two or three months. Their pale, downy feathers are soon replaced by their juvenile plumage, which they’ll retain for about 18 months. Instead of the reddish chests of the adult, juvenile Red-shouldereds have dark streaks on a pale chest.

The female usually lays three or four eggs and does most of the incubation. The male brings her food, and may take a turn sitting on the eggs. Then the female can stretch her wings and catch her own tasty mouse, vole, or frog before returning to duty.

The eggs hatch in about a month. The female stays with the hatchlings while the male brings food for the family; she feeds bite size morsels to the young hawks. Unlike many baby birds, young hawks are not fed special soft food. They eat “grown-up” food (e.g., snake strips and toad tidbits) from the start.

Both parents defend the nest. A word to the wise: Many years ago, I was trying to see how many youngsters were in a Red-shouldered Hawk’s nest and stood too close to their tree. The parent at the nest screamed and arrowed down at me, talons out. I took the hint and departed. In general, though, these hawks seem to tolerate quite a bit of nearby commotion. For example, my local pair is nesting this year in a big beech tree in a narrow band of woods between a creek and the noisy elementary school playground.

Through habitat loss and hunting, Redshouldered Hawk numbers plummeted early last century, but slowly recovered after the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 made hunting them illegal. Current populations are stable, according to data collected and analyzed by the Breeding Bird Survey, and the bird is considered a Species of Least Concern.

We are lucky that these beautiful hawks are fairly common and loyal to their territory year after year. The Red-shouldered Hawk, soaring aloft, wing windows gleaming, is a graceful and beneficial neighbor.

Cecily Nabors is a retired software manager who has been watching and counting birds for much of her life. She publishes the Good-Natured Observations blog at cecilynabors.com.