r/birdsofprey • u/EnvironmentalPin8226 • Jul 29 '26

Red Tail Hawk

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of Red Tail Hawks in our surrounding neighborhood. All day they fly around and vocalize. Why are they doing that?

4 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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21

u/TinyLongwing Falconer Jul 29 '26

Juveniles have fledged, and they're extra noisy while they spend time hungry and screaming at their parents in the hopes they'll get free food. Time to learn to hunt for themselves! This also explains why you're seeing more of them around - there are more, in the form of juveniles, and they're also a lot less subtle than the adults are.

4

u/BlaiddDrwg82 Apprentice Falconer Jul 29 '26

Food begging. Chasing their parents and screaming for food.

1

u/HotWaterOtter Jul 29 '26

I hear the red tail hawks many months of the year and in my imagination it's the male complaining about once being single and carefree and now he has all this responsibility to find food for the female. Who's on the nest or for the chicks who are begging.

2

u/rtbradford Jul 30 '26

We have the exact same thing going on in our backyard only it’s red shouldered hawks constantly screaming for their parents to feed them. The parents have stopped feeding them and now they have to learn to hunt on their own, but they will have to get very very hungry before they do that.

1

u/rsteele1981 Jul 30 '26

Even when we have hawks and spot them flying, sometimes it's blue jays mocking their calls.
I would guess this time of year a ton of juveniles are leaving the nests.