WEBVTT - How Do Red-Tailed Hawks Work? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.560 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, brain Stuff, 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:13.240 Lauren Boglebaum here, surely you've seen a majestic bald eagle 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:16.960 sweep across a television or movie screen while it makes 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:22.880 its familiar call, a harsh, keening scream. Super producer Tyler, 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:28.160 can we get that bird call? If you've heard this, 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:32.000 it wasn't an eagle at all, but rather the piercing 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.920 shrill of a red tailed hawk. Because the smaller and 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.320 more prevalent redtailed hawk has a much mightier voice than 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.680 its larger cousin, the bald eagle. Hollywood regularly dubs over 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:46.760 the call of the bald eagle with that of the 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:51.160 red tailed hawk to toughen up the symbol of America. 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:55.240 The bald eagle actually boasts a little cackling type of call. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.120 That's not very impressive. Do we have one of those 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:03.840 in the library? Yet another reason I agree with Ben 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.440 Franklin who thought the turkey would have been a better 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:12.319 choice for National bird, But today we're talking hawks. There 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.160 are more than two hundred species around the world, and 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.120 around twenty five that make their homes in the United States, 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.480 but the red tailed hawk is probably the most common 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:26.320 species in North America. These big birds can be spotted 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.520 soaring above rural regions from coast to coast and perching 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:35.240 anywhere with scattered elevated seeding from which to watch open areas. 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.280 They were first taxonomically described in Jamaica, which is how 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.160 the red tailed hawk got its species name, Beauteo jamakensis. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.760 They are also known as chickenhawks and buzzard hawks. Although 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.440 they avoid tundra and thick forest, they are more adaptable 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.080 than any other hawk in the Beauteo genus. Their varied 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:03.400 habitats include scrub desert plains, grasslands, agricultural fields, pastures, parks, woodlands, 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:09.320 tropical rainforests, suburbs, and cities. Red tailed hawks have red tails, 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:13.000 which might sound pretty obvious, but it actually takes an 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.320 entire year for the birds to develop their namesake tail. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.880 A chicks hatch with a sort of sleety gray colored fluff, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.480 and juveniles develop increasingly dark, spotted, white, and brown coloration 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.239 over the course of several months. About a year after 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:32.280 they hatch, they'll molt their brown tail and grow their 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:37.000 mature copper to brick colored tail feathers. The male and 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:41.800 female birds don't have noticeably different coloration. All red tailed 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.239 hawks have yellow legs and feet, with long, sharp claws, 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:47.920 and a bit of yellow at their sear, which is 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.360 the fleshy upper base of their short hooked beak, which 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.120 is itself gray in color. Other than that, their exact 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.799 coloration can vary by region and subspecies, of which there 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:03.360 are about fifteen. Eastern birds have a brown head and back, 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.400 a white throat and chest, and a band of brown 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:11.240 streaks that run lengthwise down the belly. Western birds tend 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.800 to have streakier bellies. A Great Plains variety called Crider's 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.000 hawk is pale with a whitish colored head and washed 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:23.080 out pink in the tail. South Texas forms are darker 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:27.040 above but without the dark belly band below. Dark morph 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.040 birds can occur anywhere, but are more common in western 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:34.400 North America, particularly up in Alaska and northwest Canada, where 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:38.840 the all dark Harlan's hawk is common. These birds have 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.920 a stocky body with broad wings, and they often fan 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.840 out their tail during flight. There is some variation in 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.400 size among red tailed hawks subspecies, with the largest birds 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.680 occurring in the northern populations and the smallest in the south. 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.200 They can grow to about twenty two inches in length 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.920 from beak to tail, that's fifty five centimeters, with a 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.680 wingspan of around fifty fifty two inches, that's one hundred 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.920 and thirty centimeters. That's almost four and a half feet. 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.040 That's a lot of bird. The female birds tend to 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.760 be a bit bigger than the males. During ordinary flight, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.320 red tailed hawks are a little slower than ducks or geese. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.760 They fly around the normal speed of neighborhood traffic, maybe 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.120 up to like forty miles an hour or sixty five 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.039 kilometers an hour, but when they go into a dive, 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.039 they accelerate like a highly tuned race car. A red 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.520 tailed hawk can spot prey from a distance of some 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.840 hundred feet or thirty meters up, and can swoop down 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.359 at speeds of over one hundred and twenty miles an 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:42.159 hour or nearly two hundred kilometers an hour. For the article, 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:44.520 this episode is based on how Stuff Works, spoke via 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.320 email with Rick Schwartz, a global ambassador for California's San 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:52.880 Diego Zoo. He explained they can see colors like most 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.440 humans can, as well as those in the ultra violet range. 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.080 This means that hawks can perceive colors that humans cannot see. 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.120 Red tailed hawks are diurnal hunters, but see black and 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.960 white well enough to also hunt at dusk, the time 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.400 when nocturnal animals, especially rodents, begin to awaken and move around. 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:16.200 These predators have a nictating membrane, a clear inner lid 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.839 that cleans the eye and protects it while the hawk 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:23.880 is wrestling with its prey. Red tailed hawks will eat 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.080 carrion when times are tough, but they prefer live prey 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.920 and especially the aforementioned rodents like mice, voles, rabbits, and squirrels, 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.440 with the occasional snake, lizard, and small bird thrown in 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.440 for good measure. How stuffworks also spoke via email with 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.720 Scott Barnes, now the bird's programs director at the New 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.920 Jersey Audubond Society. He explained they hover hunt by flapping 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:51.039 in place over potential prey and by swooping down to 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.039 grab a meal with their sharp talons. Or they perch hunt, 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.800 which is exactly what it sounds a sitting on a perch, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.839 sometimes a telephone pole and watching for prey. A Once 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.440 an item is spotted, the hawk drops off its perch 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:09.440 and tries to grab a meal. They are clever hunters. 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.920 Some birds have been observed faking out venomous snakes by 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.680 flaring their wings out, encouraging the snake to strike harmlessly 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.520 at their feathers, then going in for the kill. On 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.000 the flip side of the food chain. Adult red tailed 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:26.480 hawks can be preyed upon by larger raptors like eagles, 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.680 or sometimes by mammals like bobcats, but most predators find 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.320 them too big to want to mess with. However, the 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:39.160 hawk's first year of life is perilous, Schwartz said. Great 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.400 horned owls and crows prey on red tailed hawk eggs 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.479 and nestlings. Owls compete with red tailed hawks for nest sites. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.160 Both birds are known to kill the young and destroy 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.520 the eggs of the other in an attempt at taking 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.679 a nest site. If they make it through their youth, 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.640 red tailed hawks can live about twenty years in the wild. 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.560 The oldest known is thought to have been at least 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.880 thirty years old when it was found in twenty eleven 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.359 in Michigan, the same state where it had been banded 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.320 in nineteen eighty one. Some red tilled hawks haunt the 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.640 same areas year round, but others migrate with the seasons, 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.880 seeking warmer weather and more abundant prey, they might go 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.640 alone or move with family groups. Red tails pair up 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.920 for life, and their aerial courtship is a daring air 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.480 show of flight bravado as the birds lock talons and 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:34.120 spiral downward together. Schwartz said the more migratory red tailed 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.280 hawks of the North have dramatic displays, while the more 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.760 sedentary birds of the South don't seem to work as 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:43.520 hard to impress their mates. Although red tiled hawks mate 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.280 for life, it doesn't mean a surviving partner won't go 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:49.120 on to mate again, even returning the next season to 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:53.160 the breeding territory it knows best, and during the spring, 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.320 which is breeding season, a pair will build a bulky 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:59.400 nest high above the ground. A female will lay two 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.800 to four eggs and incubate them for about a month. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.360 The male helps feed her during this time, and both 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.440 parents may feed the young when they hatch. The young 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.200 stay in the nest for another month and a half 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.840 before starting to range out on their own, though they 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.520 may stay with their family for half a year, and 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:17.600 young birds don't tend to start a family of their 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:22.160 own until their second spring. Red tailed hawks are protected 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.760 under the US Migratory Bird Act, and because they're beneficial 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:30.200 for rodent and grasshopper control, they're considered wild friends to farmers. 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.440 It is illegal to mess with them or their nests. 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.160 Should you ever come across an injured hawk or other 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.120 bird of prey, get in touch with a locally licensed 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:44.080 wildlife rehabilitator. They'll know what to do to help the 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:49.520 bird out and get it back where it belongs in nature. 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.640 Today's episode is based on the article redtail talks are 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.680 way bigger, faster, and more common than you realize on 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.240 HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Wendy Bowman. Brain Stuff is 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.400 production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com. It 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.040 is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.720 visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:12.840 to your favorite shows.