Birds of Sunset Park: We need to talk about Red-tailed Hawks

It’s been a long time coming, but this month’s column is about the Red-tailed Hawk. Part of the inspiration came when I saw a car ad on TV featuring a Bald Eagle, and the vocalization used to denote this iconic bird was, in fact, the screeching call of a Red-tailed Hawk! It’s a noise you are quite possibly very familiar with, actually. You know in TV shows and movies when people are in the desert and you hear the piercing shriek of a bird of prey, used to convey just how damn desolate it is? Yup, that’s a Red-tailed Hawk you’re hearing.

But that’s the deal with this bird – they kinda crop up everywhere. A friend of mine estimates that 90 percent of the time when people text or email with an ID question, the bird in the picture is a Red-tailed Hawk. And there are a couple of reasons why this number is so high. First, Red-tailed Hawks are very large and prone to perching happily in trees for prolonged periods of time, meaning people can easily take a photo or video of them on their phones. And second, Red-tailed Hawks are extremely abundant.

While birding in Sunset Park, I have been stopped many times by people who, after seeing me with my binoculars, want to talk to me about Red-tailed Hawks – either because they have just seen one, or saw one recently, and are keen to share their sighting with me, or because they want to know if the bird I’m looking at right now is, in fact, a Red-tailed Hawk. (Subtext: “If you are looking at a gorgeous Red-tailed Hawk, please let me know ASAP, as I’d like to see it, too!”)

If I’m totally honest, part of me wants to be a bit of a snob about this because, to quote the website eBird, the Red-tailed Hawk is the “most common roadside raptor across much of North America.” I have an inclination to tell people that yes, Red-tailed Hawks are cool, but I see a lot of them, and that many other birds are awesome, too!

But here’s the reality: I can never really get enough of Red-tailed Hawks. When one presents itself in my line of sight, I will take a picture of it. Or, more usually, a LOT of pictures. Almost as if it were a species of bird I had never seen before. I mean, Red-tailed Hawks are relaxed around humans and thus very photogenic, plus these birds are so full of character!

Just in Sunset Park, I have taken pictures of Red-tailed Hawks devouring rats and gobbling down pigeons. I’ve captured them sitting on fences and railings and perched on top of air conditioners, light fixtures and playground structures. I’ve documented them being dive-bombed by Northern Mockingbirds and playing tag with a gaggle of American Crows. I’ve taken shots of one eating prey while some stray toilet paper was attached to one of its talons. A favorite recent encounter with a Red-tailed Hawk was seeing a juvenile perched above the handball court, a welcome recurring sight as I ran laps around the park track.

I should probably be very slightly scientific and say that you can identify a Red-tailed Hawk by its red tail – which is actually absent on immature birds – its dark belly band or its dark patagial bars along the leading edges of its wings, kinda like the tops of the shoulders. But if you’re one of the many people who’ve seen them hanging out in Sunset Park, you’ve experienced them close up and have your own special way of recognizing these remarkable birds.