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| The Watchful Red-Tailed Hawk |
| GLOSSARY |
| Carnivore |
eats meat |
| Raptor |
bird of prey
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| Scleral Ring |
fibrous ring that helps to support the eyeball |
| Wingspan |
the distance between the tips of outspread wings
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Photos by Terry Spivey
USDA Forest Service |
The Watchful Red-Tailed Hawk
The watchful Red-Tailed Hawk can be found all over Ohio. They usually build their nests in forests that have open fields located nearby. The nest of the Red-Tailed Hawk can be found high in a tree and is built out of sticks then lines with bark, pine needles, grasses and leaves.
The scream of the red-tail hawk is a raspy kree-eee-ar. This scream lasts a few second and can commonly be heard while they are soaring overhead. Young hawks have a loud klee-uk crying that they repeat when they are hungry.
The red-tail hawk is a carnivore, meaning it eats meat. Another name for a carnivorous bird is raptor. The diet consists of small mammals such as field mice, rats, squirrels, moles. However, the hawk will sometimes eat snakes, frogs and even other birds like pigeons, crows and ducks. Occasionally, they will even steal food from other birds-of-prey.
The red-tailed hawk stands about 18 to 24 inches tall and has an impressive wingspan of around 4 feet! Being the largest hawk, the red-tail weighs in between 2 and 4 pounds, which is quite heavy for a bird. They have a short dark colored beak that is hooked, allowing the hawk to grasp with its beak and pull. The red-tail hawk has large talons on its feet that it uses to grab its prey.
The coloring of the red-tail hawk can be different. The majority of the hawks seen in the parks have dark brown on the head, back and wings, white chest and a large reddish-brown tail tipped in white. Juvenile red-tailed hawks are lighter in color and thinner built. They also have dark colored bands on the underside of their light brown-red tails.
The red-tail hawk has vision that is 8 times better than a human. This allows them to see small animals moving on the ground from as far away as 100 feet in the air. Red-tail hawks also have a bony ridge over the eye that helps block the sun. This ridge also makes the red-tail look like it’s angry. The eyeball of the red-tail hawk is very large and needs more support than other birds. The scleral ring surrounds the eye and is attached to cartilage inside the skull which helps to support the eye.
The Watchful Red-Tailed Hawk really is very watchful, isn’t it!
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