Red-tailed Tales

Our dear friends and hawk watchers, Marge and Pete Krampe, came up early in the season, and shared with us a marvelous tale.  Pete was Golfing at an Ohio course, when he hit his ball into some tall trees on a hill along the fairway.  A little annoyed with himself for having to go up into the trees to find his ball, he was not so aware of his surroundings. As he approached the trees, he was suddenly hit very hard in the back by something, and except for the sharp pain, would have feared it to have been a limb falling from the tree.  It almost knocked him down it hit so hard. As he raised his head, catching his balance, he followed the shadow of something large to see an adult Red-tailed Hawk flying away.  It became immediately clear to him, that the pain he was still feeling was where the talons of the bird had done some damage to his back. Reasoning why, he finally decided there must have been a nest near to where his ball had landed.

I asked Pete could I share his adventure, and he was willing.  He was also willing that I tell you that a dive-bombing Red-tail could do some damage.  His back had long streaks of bleeding scratches and several deeper puncture wounds, Marge told us. She also said when she held up his shirt later, she could see the holes the claws had made. Pete sought help, allowing Marge to call several local emergency care clinics, who denied to help him, saying that he must go to a doctor. They were unprepared.  So he just went in and told them he had fallen on some nails.  To which he was given an updated Tetanus Shot, and had the wounds cleaned. LOL Emergency room averted.

What Pete had encountered was territorial behavior.  We have seen a lot of that among Red-tailed Hawks and other's this year. More than other years, I have seen Red-tails hit another bird, very hard. One day as Turkey Vultures were lifting onto the morning thermals just north of us, over Cell#1,  a Red-tail Hawk appeared from the mists high above, dropping like a bullet. It hit the Vulture so hard that it appeared to knocked it out. I saw this huge bird fall like a leaf, swirling round with little wind resistance until it almost reached the ground.  Just above tree-top level, the Vulture caught its wits, and spread its wings, pulling itself like an aerial show plane from the diving drop, wobbling out onto the rising winds once again. An aggressive hawk is nothing to mess with.

More than once we have seen 2 or 3 RTs rise up into thermals only to begin dropping on one another, looking like children playing tag.  They are a fascinating display, when we have a few moments to watch. And sometimes these displays look less like aggression than like practice for mating, or parents training young.  Not always easy to tell the difference, except that the fierce aggression is missing in the latter two.  So if you aren't into watching hawks for the purpose of seeing them migrate, take opportunities to look up and study their behavior.  You will be rewarded by their grace and prowess in the air. These kinds of activities, also help us rule out staying on these birds when at great distances, and it is too soon to know if they are Broadies.  The aggressive play and "kiting" tell us while they are just specks that we are viewing Red-tails, NOT on migration.

During this season, we witnessed several remarkable feats of territorial birds.  One day, Harold and I watched 5 Hawks in a semi-kettle formation, as they were pushed in from the East on hard East winds.  They were interacting in such a way, diving on one another, that we first thought they might be distant Red-tails - until as they came closer and maintained the semi-kettle behavior, we watched to see if they were Broad-wings.  Never having seen Broad -wings continue to act this way for a long distance - they always get along so well in a kettle - we began to consider what else they might be. The usual ways of identifying them were sort of out the window, because their behavior disguised the ability to see their details. 

As they neared us, out over the valley,  we began to doubt they were Broad-wings too.  And after watching them for a very long time, Harold finally felt certain that what we were seeing was a kettle of Sharp-shinned Hawks, having to flair their tails to continue the dive-bombing behavior.  They soared round like Broadies for a bit, occasionally, but only long enough to attain the height they needed to come crashing down onto birds below.  It seemed at first like aggression, and later as if siblings at play. Over and over they did this, never ceasing, sometime splitting into two sets, of 3 and 2, but not always the same set. Sometimes they got pretty high, and then lost all that lift diving on one another, just to rise again on the next thermal. 

Harold said he had often viewed Sharpies doing this, but usually only one to 3 at a time. Never 5, and never for so long.  They were exhausting so much energy, we wondered if they could possibly be migrants.  We had watched them for so long, that we worried we were missing valuable time in other areas of the sky, and after all that, we just dropped them, and never saw if they actually moved SW.  But since, they weren't in the "get out of here" mode, it probably was just several locals, spending the day getting exercise and honing their territorial skills.  

I, too had seen this behavior, and especially in local Raptors, which come up to meet migrators and hurry them through their territory.  We have sometimes reduced our counts as the aggressive locals leave migrators and return to the ground.  In fact, if we see Sharpies and Coopers amidst a kettle of BW's, we generally don't count them, unless they are flying through the kettle at break neck speed and disappear into the W/SW/S somewhere.  Well, not until we can see them going on.  These other birds that are not as inclined to kettle in groups, will sometimes catch the lift where a kettle of BW's is taking great advantage.  But, non-BWs often leave the kettle early and head out long before the BWs have achieved their desired height.  We sometimes have to leave a kettle of BWs and chase the singles to ID them and come back to the kettle when it "streams of the top."

When I do discussions like this, it generally is about what we observe. I don't wish to set up the reader for expectations.  Sometimes these are single events that intrigue us.  Not general, across the board education on what we expect to see.  But aggressive behavior, and a lack of interest in kettling among most other species*, are dependable traits, except with Vultures.  Migrating Vultures will sometimes resemble the Broad-wing groups.  For those who have difficulty seeing the specks of BWs we have to count in early fall, you might enjoy watching the kettles of Vultures in November. Just be aware there may be cold and winds to brave.  I have seen as many as 800 vultures sit down in the evenings during migration. *(some Western species excluded)

Jimmy has gone up today for what he expects to be his last day.  Others will continue to catch hours when possible for October and November.  Jimmy and I might even squeeze in one or two more days.  But we have a lot of catching up to do regarding  cleaning and resurfacing my greenhouse, and getting cuttings started for spring. I also have to winterize my plants, and get the mulch paths as dense as possible, or else there will be mud all winter.  We also have two gardens to prepare and get potted trees, already purchased, into the ground. What's more, Jimmy has pressure washed the deck we repaired twice for preparing it for staining.  And of course, all of this is time sensitive.  I hope to beat the first freeze.  So forgive us for deserting the "cause" of seeing just how many hawks cross through Soddy Daisy skies.  We will continue to report until Season's end.  So keep checking back.

It remains that there are lots of reasons still to:

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!!

C