Red Tailed Hawk
by Kathy White
Title
Red Tailed Hawk
Artist
Kathy White
Medium
Photograph - Photography--greeting Cards Or Notes Are Cheaper By The Dozen!
Description
This Red-Tailed Hawk closeup was taken by my husband David while at the Nature Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was a great place to visit and photograph. They had two red tailed hawks and I am not sure whether this is the male or female. The Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center has a broad collection of approximately 50 animals that are native to east Tennessee including endangered and threatened species and species in need of management. These Animal Ambassadors live at the nature center because they have been impacted by humans in a way that does not allow them to return to the wild. Usually, they have suffered an injury, been kept as a pet illegally or are part of a species survival plan. They will remain with the center receiving excellent care and becoming animal ambassadors for their species.
Their male red tailed hawk came to them after he was hit by a car in 1995, breaking his left wing. Their female red tailed hawk came in summer 2010 after flying through the grill of a car, dislocating her right shoulder. The irreparable injury deemed her non-releasable. She has been glove trained, and is used in educational programs at the center.
Most Red-tailed Hawks are rich brown above and pale below (this is called counter shading) which is easy to see during flight, with a streaked belly and a dark bar on the wing’s leading edge. The tail is strikingly red with a single black band toward the bottom.
A red tailed hawk call is often used in movies for any bird of prey. Their sound is a hoarse, screaming cheeeerrr, falling in pitch and intensity. Mostly small mammals but they eat a greater variety of prey items than all North American raptors except for the Golden Eagle.
Their average lifespan is 10 – 21 years in the wild and up to 29 years in captivity.
Red-tailed Hawks have tremendous eyesight. Their vision is up to 8 times sharper than humans. Humans can see a grasshopper 30 feet away and a hawk can see it from 100 – 240 feet away. They can also see color wave lengths in the ultraviolet spectrum that are invisible to the human eye.
Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels. As in most birds of prey, female Red-tailed Hawks are typically larger than males. The red tailed hawk usually lays 1 to 5 eggs, on average 2, once a year. They usually mate for life.
Uploaded
April 10th, 2013
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Viewed 850 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/26/2024 at 7:20 AM
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Comments (27)
Kathy White
Featured in the ABC group's Eyes collection by admin David Dehner. Thanks so much David!! :)
Deb Halloran
Hi Kathy, Wow, what a fantastic capture of this beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk. The colors and detail are amazing. Well done! v/f
Cheryl McClure
What a great shot of this hawk! We have red tail hawks at our ranch in Texas and I would LOVE to get closer like that! Beautiful detail. Voted
Kathy White
Thank you Ella Char for featuring our Red Tailed Hawk in Nature Wildlife Sunsets and Sunrises Group! We are really appreciative of your support of our photography!
Kathy White
Thank you so much to Nadine and Bob Johnston for featuring our Red Tailed Hawk photograph in our group Artists News! We appreciate your continued support of our photography! :)
Kathy White
Thank you so much Mariola Bitner for featuring our photograph on Wildlife One A Day's group homepage! We appreciate it!!
Kathy White
Thank you to Jamie Austin for featuring our Red Tailed Hawk photograph in our group Animal Photography! We appreciate it!