Redtails booming: Esford and Blakeman

Before we go back to red-tailed hawks:
Yesterday in Central Park, a Red-breasted Nuthatch
Photo by Lincoln Karim

Website correspondent John Esford writes:

Yesterday while travelling along I87 (NYS Thruway) south from Albany we counted no less than a dozen red-tailed hawks perched near the roadway from Albany County south to Ulster. Growing up in Saratoga County (and travelling extensively throughout NYS) the sight of any raptor has been an unusual (and thrilling) sight. I've researched your observations in Manhattan, and just to confirm your observations, the "upstate" areas bordering metro NYC are "booming" with red-tail populations. It was a most unusual series of spottings indeed. Gook luck, John E

John Blakeman comments:

Marie,

The correspondent's recounting of numerous red-tails along a New York Interstate is typical. It substantiates my observations that red-tails are everywhere today, having saturated all available habitats.

Two factors come into play. First---and I've encountered this numerous times---the hawk watcher may have seen so many red-tails because he finally began to look for them. They may have been there for a long time. Most people drive down the freeway and keep their eyes and attention on the road ahead, failing to see the numerous red-tails perched on utility poles, fence posts, and adjacent trees.

But once one begins to learn where red-tails typically perch, they are easily spotted in a momentary glance. We scan the usual spots and search for the bright breasts. After you've seen a few of these, the following birds are quickly and easily spotted.

The second factor is the extremely mild, snow-free winter. Without a snow cover, the vole populations in the grasses along highways are easily seen by perched hawks. With lots of available voles in the grass, many red-tails lose their autumnal impulse to migrate southward. Many of these birds may remain in upstate NY because of good hunting conditions. If some heavy, persisting snow hits, the birds can still go south of the snow line and locally disappear until March.

--John Blakeman