Birds of Prey-Red Shouldered Hawks

Red-Shouldered Hawk Adult

Birds of prey are as much a part of Dogwood Ranch as the dogwood trees. Soon after purchasing the first 10 areas of Dogwood Ranch, we often heard loud birdcalls that we certainly don’t hear in the big city of Houston. One evening the following spring, just before dusk with a just a minutes of twilight remaining, I saw a large flying bird swop down under the trees in the deep shadows, grab something off the ground and fly away. The next morning, we looked up into the tops of the tall oak trees close to where the bird swopped down. About 60 feet up, we spotted a huge bowl of sticks, dried leaves and Spanish moss in the main crotch of the tree between the trunk and a large limb. It was the nest of a large bird. Over the next few weeks, we watched the nest, using telephoto camera lenses and a telescope. The nest was the nursery of a nesting pair of red shouldered hawks (Buteo lineatus). Today we believe the large bird we saw swoop down at dusk was an owl and it is just happen stance that it did so under the tree the hawks nested in. I will provide more on the owls in a later post.

The red-shouldered hawk is a large, broad-winged hawk. Females, weighing about one and half pounds, tend to be larger than the males. Adult wingspan is between 3 to 3.5 feet. Distinguishing characteristics include reddish shoulders, a rust-colored breast with white and dark streaks, long, narrow and blackish-brown wings with black and white stripes on the undersides, long tails with narrow black and white bands and white tips, and a translucent "window" patch on each wing at the base of their primary feathers. See the Texas Parks & Wildlife link for more information about the red-shouldered hawk. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/redshoulderedhawk/

The chicks are born blind and helpless but are able to leave the nest within 45 days after hatching. One banned bird lived for 20 years. Their diet consists of rabbits, rodents, and other small mammals, as well as small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, fish, insects, and crayfish. According the TPWD, the red-shouldered hawk is an effective hunter, helping to maintain a balance of predators and prey in woodland and grassland areas. We certainly are grateful for its love of small rodents, specifically mice, to help with rodent control in our temporary living quarters at Dogwood Ranch.

Red-shouldered hawk calls are often used as the cry of bald eagles in the movies and on television because their calls are more distinctive than the eagle's call. To listen to the call, click here and go to Sound.  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/id  Federal law protects all hawks and other birds of prey, which include eagles, osprey, falcons, owls and vultures. It is illegal to harm or kill them or to own any parts of their bodies, such as talons (claws), feathers or nests. Nonetheless, humans often target hawks as potential predators of chickens and other domestic fowl.

Red-Shouldered Hawk Looking Over Nest

At Dogwood, because the hawks nest so high in the tree and we do not always have the elevation to get above and look into the nest, it can be difficult to monitor the nest and look for chicks. The first year, we spotted a single chick. After that first year, every spring, a pair of red-shouldered hawks nests on the property. We believe it is the same pair but we have no way to confirm this. For several years the nests were in trees that gave us a better view of the nest and better photo opportunities. One year the hawks set-up housekeeping in the same nest as the year before, but they refurbished it the second year.

The early spring mating ritual of the red-shouldered hawks, which mate for life, is a sight to see and hear. It turns out that Dogwood Ranch is the perfect environment for these birds, which explains their return to the property to nest year after year. They nest high in mature deciduous trees, 50 or 60 feet off the ground. They prefer to nest on the forest’s edge, near a water source and near an open field. It is over the open field that the mating dance takes place.

When we hear the hawks calling each other in March or April, we know the dance of spring has is under way. The birds usually start calling in the morning not too long after sun-up. At times they sore out over the open field, circling above the field so high they are just tiny dots and we can barely hear their calls. This behavior goes on for several weeks. Once they quite down, we start looking for the tale tell sign pile of sticks and leaves high in a tree. This year, we heard the usual springtime calling and commotion but we have not found the nest.

We refer to the chick each year’s as “Junior”. So far, this pair of hawks seems to only produce one offspring a year. Watching Junior learn to flying is quite entertaining. The young birds take short erratic flights from tree to tree. Landing seems to be a difficult skill as they usually don’t land on the feet but rather on their belly with the legs and winds wrapped around a limb. One particularly wind day, we watch Junior fling himself from tree to tree. The wind was so strong that for a while he simply hugged a tree limb and called a pitiful cry for several hours. We never spotted the parents. That year, junior hung around the nest and property much longer than Juniors of prior years. We decided he was a mama’s-boy traumatized by that windy flying experience and was afraid to venture too far from the nest. Of course we have no way of knowing why he hung around so long after the parents had parted ways until the next mating season.

These amazing birds are such a sight to see and hear at Dogwood, no matter what we are doing when hear them call, we stop and look up in hopes of seeing them soar past.