During the last part of 1999, my husband Mark and I received six raptor calls of a similar nature:

1. A Caltrans worker called our home to report that an injured red-tailed hawk was by the side of the freeway at the Highway 163 ramp onto westbound Highway 8 standing with wings outstretched. The call came in on my lunch hour which I spent entering and exiting the freeway looking for a hawk, to no avail.

2. A caller from Santee said he had seen a red-tailed hawk on the ground by a tree with its wings spread. He saw this while driving by. He was quite concerned about the injured bird and offered to try to contain it before nightfall. He then called a second time and said "forget it."

3. A frenzied commuter on a cellular phone called from Highway 78 in San Marcos and assured me that a hawk was standing by the side of the freeway with an open wing which appeared to be broken. No bird was ever located.

4. A man in Scripps Ranch called our home and left a message reporting a red-tailed hawk on the ground with wings open wide. He was quite distraught and insistent that the bird needed immediate help. Shortly after the first call, a second message was left on our machine canceling the first message.

5. A rather hysterical woman called our home indicating that a hawk with its wings "sticking out" was standing on the ground just past the Highway 163 North ramp onto Highway 52 west. She went on to say the bird must have been hit by a car. No bird could be found.

6. A panicked woman called indicating that a red-tailed hawk was standing at the side of the freeway with two broken wings at the University Avenue on ramp to Highway 805 South. Wow! What did this woman possibly see while zipping at a high speed onto the freeway that led her to make such a definitive and disturbing diagnosis? Again, we went to the area and found no hawk.

Unfortunately, birds do get hit by cars, far too often. What these people were witnessing, however, was not injured birds. It was a behavior called mantling. 

Hawks with a meal on the ground will spread their wings out around them to conceal their prey from potential thieves - other birds or mammals who shop at the same market they do. 

While mantling appears to be an attempt to hide the food the raptor has captured, it might also be that the bird looks larger and more imposing while mantling which makes it less likely to be challenged for its food by other predators. When people drive by and see the outstretched wings, they perceive it to be a bird in distress.

A red-tailed hawk kills its victim immediately with its talons. It will then normally fly elsewhere with its catch, pluck the fur or feathers as the case may be, and dine. Usually, this occurs on a perch well off the ground; however, there are times when the bird will eat on the ground mostly to avoid attracting attention or possibly when the prey is too heavy to lift. The bird will then mantle it while eating.

When a bird nearly two feet tall spreads formidable wings spanning at least four feet, it's no wonder someone passing by would notice. These "freeway hawks" seen by commuters are hoping to obtain a meal before it gets dark and they are forced to roost for the night. Apparently, they are often successful in finding rodents in the drainage ditches and vegetation by the freeways.

As for the caller from Santee, he went back to where he had seen the bird. What he found was a perfectly healthy adult red-tailed hawk still in the mantling posture polishing off a meal of ground squirrel. He was thrilled when he called us the second time with the good news.

The man in Scripps Ranch also called excitedly the second time to relate that he went back to where he had seen the hawk, only to find it uninjured, eating a rabbit.

Both callers were quite relieved that they had been privileged to witness an interesting and not often seen natural behavior. My husband had lengthy conversations with both of them. Red-tailed hawks hunt by soaring, then stooping on prey or by still-hunting from perches. The freeway hawks that we see on signs and lightposts by the freeway are in the "perch and wait" mode. Lucky for us, hawks sitting and soaring is a common sight - let's hope it always is.

I have a great admiration for red-tailed hawks. They have a high tolerance for humans and despite habitat loss, are quite adaptable. They are one of the larger members of the genus of diurnal hawks called buteos which are large, full-bodied, broad winged soaring hawks.

Obviously, all birds need a suitable place to roost and nest as well as a nearby available food source. As adaptable as red-tailed hawks are, they do have some requirements. They prefer tall trees for nesting and roosting and need a suitable open area nearby for hunting. Red tails have even modified the requirement for nest trees. They now accept telephone poles and high voltage transmission towers as nest sites, and in some parts of the country, have even been reported nesting on billboards in urban centers! One pair of red-tailed hawks in New York City's Central Park really shook up the birding world by nesting on the ledge of an apartment building across the street from Woody Allen's apartment. The Central Park hawks generated so much excitement that a book was written about them called "Red Tails in Love."

Red-tailed hawks are generalists. They've shown a remarkable capacity to modify their diet in response to the prey sources that are available. No rodents, no problem. They'll eat birds, snakes, lizards, rabbits - whatever prey is available. A good example of the opposite of a generalist, a specialist, is a raptor found in the Everglades region of Florida called the Snail kite. The bird is endangered in part because of human-caused water problems in southern Florida but also because the Snail kite specializes in and eats only one thing; you guessed it - snails, in particular apple snails. That's a risky way to live.

A pair of red-tailed hawks by our home have been making a living and nesting in the eucalyptus trees beside a freeway ramp for the eleven years that my husband and I have been watching them. We've observed them in breathtaking high speed stoops, captivating courtship flights, teaching young to fly and hunt, driving off intruders, hunting from numerous locations, and vocalizing. I love to watch them high soaring, taking full advantage of the thermals (invisible warm air elevators) until they become tiny specks in the sky, then disappear. Studying and enjoying these stunning birds is simply a part of our daily lives. We have seen them take prey in our yard and on the adjacent hillside including ground squirrels, rabbits, mourning doves, rats and mice, and even small Western fence lizards. This versatility is a big part of the reason they are so common throughout North America.

We rely upon caring members of the public. Without them, we cannot effectively help wildlife. We're grateful when people care enough to call Project Wildlife. That caller is trying to help us save a life. When the calls come in, we express our appreciation for the call, our admiration for the birds, and, if possible, try to answer questions. If even a little bit of our enthusiasm for the magnificent birds of prey rubs off, that's just fine with us.

Leslie Polinsky

Project Wildlife Raptor Team Coordinator

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