We have mostly Cooper's Hawks in my area (Albuquerque), but over the years I've seen a few Red-tailed Hawks. I recall watching Sandhill Cranes passing far overhead (migrating to fields along some other part of the Rio Grande) and I saw that a Red-tailed hawk was soaring under them (hundreds of feet at least). It was easy to imagine the hawk realizing that even if it could take down, way down, one of those huge birds, getting even part of it back to a nest and any babies would be impossible. Plucking it and eating it out in the open somewhere was also not a good idea. I'm sure the hawk found easier pickings than a crane. Maybe a duck, pigeon, dove, etc. But a bird can dream...
We have mostly Cooper's Hawks in my area (Albuquerque), but over the years I've seen a few Red-tailed Hawks. I recall watching Sandhill Cranes passing far overhead (migrating to fields along some other part of the Rio Grande) and I saw that a Red-tailed hawk was soaring under them (hundreds of feet at least). It was easy to imagine the hawk realizing that even if it could take down, way down, one of those huge birds, getting even part of it back to a nest and any babies would be impossible. Plucking it and eating it out in the open somewhere was also not a good idea. I'm sure the hawk found easier pickings than a crane. Maybe a duck, pigeon, dove, etc. But a bird can dream...
ReplyDelete