If you don’t look at all the data you’ll probably be fooled.
For the past 30 years the number of red-tailed hawks migrating past hawk watches has declined across North America except at certain western sites. With only this information to go on, you’d think that the species is in trouble.
But Neil Paprocki of HawkWatch International and his colleagues looked further. They compared hawk watch counts to the data gathered during Christmas Bird Counts in December-January and found that since 1984 red-tailed hawks have stayed in northern latitudes in much greater numbers. They noted that red-tail counts declined at 43% of the hawk watches and increased on 67% of the Christmas Bird Counts.
As the climate warms and the winters are milder there’s less snow cover in the northern latitudes so it’s easier for the hawks to find food. Fewer of them are bothering to travel south.
Red-tailed hawks are adjusting their plans.
Read more about the study here in The Condor: Combining migration and wintering counts to enhance understanding of population change in a generalist raptor species, the North American Red-tailed Hawk. Laurie Goodrich of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was a member of the study team.
(photo by Cris Hamilton)
Good morning Kate,
Coming home from work yesterday I saw a downed bird on the Bloomfield Bridge. I couldn’t tell if it was a falcon or a hawk, but the plumage definitely looked like a raptor. A couple of feet past this bird was a downed pigeon, so I’m wondering if the bird was hit by a car while hunting the pigeon. As I was in the middle of rush-hour traffic I couldn’t stop to take a close look but was wondering if I should contact someone to check it out?
Debbie, at this point it is probably way too late to help that bird but in future you can call The PA Game Commission at 724-238-9523. That’s the dispatch number in (I think) Westmoreland County. They might not get there very fast.
Sorry, I should have been more specific – the bird was definitely dead when I saw it, I just wondered if I could have contacted someone who would have been interested in checking the bird for possible leg bands in order to identify it and note it’s demise.
Oh! Sorry I misunderstood. I guess not at this late date … and also because our peregrines are accounted for. Thanks for asking.
Speaking of downed birds. Last week I encountered a dead red tail on the sidewalk of N. Bouquet Street in Oakland. This is the second one I have seen in a year. The first one still had a pigeon in its claws and was laying face down about 30 feet from Fifth avenue. Last weeks bird was about 20 more feet up the street on the same side. Found it odd to see not one but two in a almost the same location.
Angie, there is probably a window or a glass building over there that the red-tailed hawks don’t see as a wall. So they hit the wall and it kills them.
I was actually wondering if they were clipping the new windows on the GSPH building. The windows on the one side form the corner on three floors. They were across the street from the building so I don’t think they hit it head on or they would have been closer to the building and more towards the front instead of the side.