Red tailed hawk close encounter

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This afternoon, I got a chat message that Mom went out to check on the chickens only to find a juvenile Red Tailed Hawk in the chicken barn as well, sadly, the hawk killed our favorite hen, and since there were no other chickens in the barn, she closed it in to trap it, so “MacTech can ‘take care of it’ when he gets home tonight”…

I called her back to let her know that the RTH is a Federally Protected bird and it would be a felony to kill it, and we should just set it free, the loss of the hen was unfortunate, but one of the risks of keeping chickens, and especially free ranging them, and I’d be home to release it after work.

When I arrived home, we put the remaining hens in the tool shed and went in to deal with the hawk

I was stunned with how gorgeous this bird was, it was a juvenile, no red on the tail feathers yet, just black and white barring overall, the beak and talons we’re viciously sharp, and the eyes, a piercing golden yellow, and it was so fluffy too, if it wasn’t for the beak and talons, I’d want to pet it.

Once we had secured the hens, I grabbed an old push broom handle, gently slid it over to where the hawk was standing, and he calmly perched on the handle! He somehow knew we were trying to help him out of the barn.

Once out of the barn, I rested the handle on top of the old rabbit hutch, and the hawk just stood there, watching us…

Needless to say, we both took a lot of pictures, it’s not every day I get this close to a raptor, I’m talking arms length here, we also took some videos

I think one of the most interesting things was how the hawk reacted to Mom and I…

Whenever Mom approached him, he’d spread his wings fully and puff out, as if to say “LOOK HOW BIG AND SCARY I AM!!!” And turn his whole body to face her wherever she moved

Whenever I approached him, he’d put his wings into a “shrug” and lean back, following my motions with his head only… almost like he felt less threatened…

Pre release;

Release into the night;

Photobucket page

2

Thank you for saving that beautiful hawk life ! I can’t believe your mom wanted to kill the bird , it did nothing wrong .

3

That’s exactly what I told her, the hawk was being a hawk, an apex predator, no matter how friendly and adorable the little Bantam hen was, and she was, super freindly, adorable and a reliable egg layer, the hawk did nothing wrong

To Mom’s credit, she has softened to the hawk a bit, has forgiven it, accepted it has done nothing wrong, and in fact remarked on how cute the hawk was and wished we could have kept it as a pet as well…

The thing I found so memorable about this experience was how I felt a kind of… connection to the hawk, it was nearly docile with me and I felt an almost “telepathic” connection with it, if I believed in stupid, illogical spiritual crap, I’d almost say that that hawk could have been my “spirit animal”

4

Having had several close and, dare I say it, numinous encounters with falcons over the years, I know exactly how you must feel, MacTech.

5

In line at the drive-up one landed on the van in front of me. When the car moved he went back to the bushes on the side. It seems McDonald’s has loads of free eats, whether for vermin or those that eat vermin. Or who are too lazy to work for a living. “That gray gull is too big for me. Maybe there’s a part of a Big Mac laying around.”

6

It is unfortunate about your poor hen for sure. She’s just going about, living her life when along comes a predator who’s just going about, living his life. What a beautiful creature. Glad he’s off, free to fly again. :slight_smile:

7

I’m amazed that Red Tails are a protected species. They’re about as common as sparrows around here (Missouri.) You see them on every third telephone pole.

We were losing hens to them, too (full sized birds) and ended up stringing fishing line over the large run, which was effective in stopping them.

Edit: I just looked, and Audubon doesn’t say anything about them being a protected species. Are they?

8

Hmm. Apparently they are protected. Interesting.

http://www.airportwildlife.com/RedTailedHawk.php

You see them as road kill all the time here.

9

Great share MacTech :).

Yep. Put it this way - if it isn’t a game bird within a defined hunting season or an introduced species, it is almost inevitably protected. If you don’t have a permit to kill or otherwise harass a bird ( including eggs in a nest ) just assume it is illegal, because it usually is. Get a misdemeanor conviction and you can be staring at a $15,000 fine.

10

According to the US Humane society, its a Class B Misdemeanor, not a felony

Still wouldn’t have changed my response, I was going to release it either way.

Hmm, maybe this is a hint to get into a new hobby… Falconry! :wink:

Apparently, the RTH is known to be relatively docile around humans, one article I read described them as “the golden retriever of raptors”

11

A chicken hawk; did you name him Henery?

12

Great pictures and cool story.

You have all the fun…

13

Good story.

I spent yesterday afternoon with my friend (a licensed falconer), hunting squirrels with his red-tailed hawk. He trapped this bird about 3 weeks ago, and it has already managed to catch its dinner a half-dozen times.

All raptors are elegant - often surprisingly so - when seen up close. This one is a large first-year female who, after a somewhat slow start, is proving to be a very effective hunter.

But the squirrels were not out yesterday, so the hawk had to make do with the remains of one she’d caught a week ago. Their style of eating is interesting: they carefully pick all the nice juicy bits of meat off the bones and skin, and then gulp down the bones and skin. Little or nothing goes to waste.

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I admire someone who observes details like that, Xema.

15

Hmm, MacTech Red Feather. Works for me!

Dennis

16

They are beautiful!

There used to be lots of them several years ago… but I almost never see them here anymore.

17

Thank you, dropzone.

18

Where’s “here” for you? They seem plentiful in most places I go, pretty much throughout the US (and southern Canada in summer).

19

Great job on the release. These (and all raptors, really) are beautiful birds. You were very fortunate to see one up close that wasn’t dead or injured. Just a couple of weeks ago I had the privilege, while flying my glider, to share a thermal with two Red tails, a Golden Eagle and a Bald Eagle. Its pretty amazing to see these birds doing what they do best a mile above the ground.

20

In NJ, there used to be 1-2 that I might see daily up until… 2012 or 2013? They’d be over neighborhoods & highways. They were (and are) beautiful.

In this year, the entire Summer and Fall passed with me seeing a grand total of… three?
Yesterday (oddly, it was after this thread started) I was out and about and I saw one.

Its just so weird that what used to be common place was now so rare that I actually stopped a conversation I was having just to point it out.