Habits of Hawks
Most hawks hunt by day, feeding on smaller birds and land animals. The bat hawk of Asia and Africa, however, hunts bats at night. For many years farmers and hunters killed all hawks on sight to protect poultry and young farm animals, as well as song and game birds. However, it has been found that only a few kinds of hawks harm livestock. The damage they do is far outweighed by their help in ridding farms of such pests as rats, mice, gophers, rabbits, and grasshoppers.
The northern harrier feeds primarily on mice.Hawks are another kind of bird of prey. Hawks hunt during the day. So do most other birds of prey—except owls. (Most owls, as you know, hunt at night.) Like owls, hawks have strong legs and feet with sharp, curved talons. They also have powerful beaks for catching and eating prey.
This sharp-shinned hawk is a forest hawk. It has short, rounded wings and a long tail. This hawk can gain speed quickly and make sharp turns. These skills are important in hunting in woods where there are lots of trees.
A sharp-shinned hawk sits on a perch and watches for prey. Then it darts down and pounces. Its long, thin toes and sharp talons are just right for grasping songbirds, which it often catches in flight. This hawk has to eat 1/4 of its body weight each day.
Like all birds of prey, hawks spend time taking care of their flying equipment, which is their feathers. Hawks sometimes bathe by splashing at the edge of a lake or a stream. Or, they may take dust baths to get rid of fleas.
A bird’s feathers are made of a network of straight, thin parts called barbs and parts with tiny hooks called barbules. The barbs and barbules can come apart and get ruffled. Birds smooth their feathers with their beaks. They put the barbs and barbules back together, like fixing a zipper. They spread oil on their feathers to protect and waterproof them. The oil comes from a small gland near the bird’s tail.
Hawks build bulky nests of sticks on rocky cliffs or hills, or in trees. A few species nest on the ground. The eggs are whitish or light blue, usually spotted with brown, and are two to seven in number, according to the species. The newly hatched young are covered with white down. They are looked after by both parents for a month or six weeks until they are able to fly.
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