Once they can fly, the young will hunt independently of their parents. The parents typically take care of their young for up to six weeks until they are ready to fly. Males and females will take turns incubating the eggs for 28 to 35 days until they are ready to hatch. In early April, the female will lay one to five eggs. After the aerial display, both hawks will perch, groom one another, and then mate. Oftentimes while in flight, the male will offer and entice the female with prey. Occasionally the pair will interlock talons in mid-air and spiral towards the ground before eventually pulling away. These displays involve the male flying up high, then steeply plummeting downwards towards the female. During their mating season, which begins in early March, they perform aerial courtship displays. They are sexually mature at three years old. Red-tailed hawks will have the same partner for years. Both males and females have similar colors and markings, though females are generally 25% larger than the males. Generally their outer feathers are a rich brown color, and they have a beige underbelly and a short, reddish-brown tail from which they get their name. Red-tailed hawks have rounded wings and a broad wingspan that can extend up to four feet across. The average lifespan of red-tailed hawks is 12 years in the wild, although they can reach 30 years in captivity. Here in New York City, nests have appeared atop the RFK Bridge and on the ledges of college buildings belonging to CUNY and NYU. Nests are often constructed on trees or on buildings about 13 to 70 feet off the ground. Their nests are comprised of twigs, pine needles, and other plant material they find in local parks and green spaces. Male and female red-tailed hawks understand this, and can be aggressive in terms of protecting their nests and defending their territories. Maintaining a sense of personal space in New York City is a valuable but difficult task. Between providing extermination and entertainment, red-tailed hawks are working hard to earn a place in the hearts of their fellow New Yorkers. Other hawks throughout the city have garnered their share of attention as well, inspiring popular live video feeds of their nests. Pale Male, a hawk that has called Manhattan home since 1990, has gained a following so large that he has been featured in films and children’s books. It is an arrangement that benefits everyone involved-except, obviously, the rodents.Īnd that’s to say nothing of the enjoyment that red-tailed hawks have provided to New Yorkers throughout the years. City buildings and bridges also provide ideal nesting sites for urban hawks. In turn, the city works to cut down on the use of rat poisons in areas where the hawks nest so that they do not accidentally eat poisoned rodents. They provide free pest control for the city, with a majority of their diet consisting of rats and mice. In many ways, the relationship between New Yorkers and red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) is the ideal of human-wildlife coexistence. A red-tailed hawk perched on a tree, searching for prey.
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