A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from my neighbor two doors up from me. He knows that I take a lot of photos of different things of interest and was calling to let me know that there was a hawk sitting on the grill in his back yard. He thought I might want to try to get some photos of him or her so I grabbed my camera and headed into my back yard where I could see over to his yard. I looked but didn't see the hawk. My neighbor saw me from his deck and called me. He was looking down from his third floor deck and from my angle I couldn't see the hawk so I walked farther down my yard and finally caught sight of the hawk which I believe is a Red-tailed Hawk.
I've heard hawks in the yard many times as they have a very distinct call. Although, I hadn't seen one, my husband has seen one several times. I did see one in a yard a block down the street once. My daughter was living there and had just brought three young rabbits home in a large plastic bin. She had them in the bin behind a shed because it was shady and she was getting a cage ready for them. She also had the lid off when I heard the hawk and I knew the hawk had seen them even though my daughter thought she had them out of sight. We spotted the hawk up on a telephone pole and she quickly covered the young rabbits so the hawk wouldn't try to get them. I don't think the Red-tailed Hawks are fearful of people much. *Red-tailed Hawks, like most hawks, have excellent vision and can spot a mouse on the ground from 100 feet in the air. We have voles in the yard so perhaps it was looking for a meal. They will also go after other birds, rabbits, squirrels and even kittens/cats.
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The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the larger hawks and this one was much larger than a crow. *Some people may refer to them as a Freeway Hawk because, often times, they can be seen sitting on top of a street lamp pole along the side of a freeway. We see them often here on top of street lamp poles on regular roads as well.
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*Red-tailed Hawks are one of the more abundant types of hawks in North America. They aren't considered endangered and due to their increasing numbers the conservation concern for them is low. They are still a protected bird though per the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
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I was happy that my neighbor gave me a call and that I got to see the Red-tailed Hawk. I only got off a few shots (with my camera) before it flew off. I've heard the hawk's cry a few times this past week and I do worry a little bit about the rabbits and the cats but it is rare for one of my daughter's rabbits to get out of a cage. I have noticed that the cats seem to be a little less out in the open as well. I thought that was due to the summer heat and that could be but maybe the hawk has got them a little nervous too. I'm hoping though that the hawk is only interested in the voles in the yard and he can help himself all he wants to them. 😏
Thank you @melinda010100 for #featheredfriends!!
All photos and text by me @deerjay. All rights reserved.
