In this blog post, we share our story about a close-up visit from a Red-tailed Hawk. The largest hawk in North America came to visit and let us take some photos!
Usually when I wake up in the morning the goal is simple. I must make some coffee. Everything else will follow (after Coffee kicks in). On the way down the stairs I’ll stop and take a quick look out the window. On this particular morning I looked and only saw a gray squirrel at the bottom of our larger bird feeder pole. He was staring up at the bird seed in the feeders above him and then back at the feeder baffle, which had definitely confused him. I had no idea I was about to have a close-up encounter with an incredible juvenile red-tailed hawk!
By the time I made coffee downstairs and turned back to look out the window, there was now no squirrel in sight, but instead there was a HUGE hawk sitting on top of the feeder eating breakfast (and it wasn’t birdseed). After a solid 30 minutes of the hawk getting every single piece of fresh protein it could, I was surprised to see that it actually flew closer to the house, and perched on our deck railing. We have a couple of short video clips uploaded to YouTube also: Click here to view them on our channel!
In this video clip, I had just stepped outside and tried to move extremely slowly, so I wouldn't startle Stephen the Red-tailed hawk, the last thing I wanted to do was scare him away while attempting to get a close-up photo or two. Luckily, he was patient and not the least bit worried about my camera and I!
Another 20 minutes or so of this very full hawk hanging out, the Blue Jays screaming, and Carolina Wrens sounding off with their shrill alarm call, Lisa really wanted me to chase the hawk off, so she could come outside and feed the rest of the birds. Just in case it didn’t get startled and take off, I brought my camera out with me. The railing where the hawk was sitting is about 15 or 16 feet from the back door so theoretically I should be able to snap a few pics before it leaves, maybe even capture the launch of this massive bird and the first few wing flaps. I had no idea what was next. (keep reading!)
After a minute or two, I was able to very slowly move a bit closer, while just snapping photos like crazy. Then, I moved around to the right of it. Although he saw every move I made, he was way more interested in all the activity around him in the trees above. Some small songbirds even came down to eat off the feeders less than 10 feet away because they must have understood that this hawk wasn’t a threat to them. I even saw another squirrel approaching from the furthest parts of the yard before seeing what was ahead and then freezing for a good 10-15 minutes.
We named this juvenile Red-tailed hawk Stephen “Red” Hawkings, just for laughs. Red-tailed hawks come around our yard only a few times a year, although we generally see Red-Shouldered Hawks or Cooper’s Hawks a lot more often. Stephen hung around for nearly an hour and a half, and it seemed like he had a bit of a food coma after eating that entire squirrel. At the closest point between this hawk and my camera, I was probably around 4-5 feet from him. Finally though, he grew tired of me standing around with a camera in his face and he flew up to an oak limb between our house and our neighbor’s. Lisa was able to feed the birds and everything went back to the regularly scheduled program. This was quite an experience that I recognized as a very unique occurrence, and I do not take moments like these for granted. Nor will I soon forget it! Thanks for reading! Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this post!
In the video below, take a look at the size of those massive talons! You can also hear the titmice carrying on in the background at the start of the video as well!
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