Hawks are everywhere!

Red Tailed Hawk south side Indianapolis In. Camera: Canon SX30IS 

  As can be seen in this image, Raptors can be found in residential, commercial & industrial areas, sometimes even in commercial buildings! In this part of the country and Im sure in others parts it’s not uncommon to be driving down a city street and see a hawk soaring above or sitting in a nearby tree. 

  I spent four years in Cincinnati, on a job, and would drive back home to Indianapolis on the weekends. I started noticing hawks sitting in trees and on fences along my way. The first few years there might be three or four, the last year the numbers peaked to twelve to fifteen. The number in winter would be higher than any other time of the year.

 The larger numbers of raptors sitting near road sides in winter is due to a lack of food sources. In the case of the Red Tailed Hawk, a large percentage of first year hawks do not survive in to their second year! This is due to a number of reasons, lack of food during winter, taking chances on road kill, contact with power lines and more.

 A young Hawk that becomes a good hunter can survive the winter eating birds and other hard to catch prey. A poor hunter has survived into late fall eating bugs and small rodents, by winter this food source has died off or is under ground. The hawks then turn to road kill but this dodging in and out of traffic will be the demise of many a raptor.