Our Resident Red-tailed Hawks

Mandela

Date Brought to Sharon Audubon Center: March 2002

History: Mandela or Mandy as the staff and volunteers call her, joined us at the Sharon Audubon Center as a very young hawk in March of 2002.  She was originally brought to a veterinarian with an eye injury most likely inflicted in a fight with another Red-tailed Hawk.  Fortunately Mandy survived her encounter, but lost her right eye as the result of her injury.  While she can no longer hunt for her own food in the wild, she seems quite content in her new home where she is guaranteed a tasty meal everyday, and the opportunity to share her story with thousands of Audubon visitors every year!

Twister

Brought to Sharon Audubon Center:  October 2003

History: Twister is one of many birds brought in to the Sharon Audubon Rehabilitation Center every year.  Unfortunately his head injuries were severe and he cannot be released back into the wild, but he has made fast friends with Tempest and Kyra and become an invaluable member of our red-tailed hawk family here at the center.

Tempest

Brought to Sharon Audubon Center:  Summer 1999

History:  Tempest arrived at the Center after spending 12 years in captivity at two other Nature Centers.  It is not determined how Tempest received her injuries, but she now has limited flight due to an old wing injury and is also blind in her right eye.  If a female hawk does not have at least 60% normal vision, she is considered non-releasable.  Tempest now resides in a large outside aviary with two other Red-tailed Hawks overlooking an open meadow and Ford Pond.

Kyra

Brought to Sharon Audubon Center:  1998

History:  Kyra came to the Center from a wildlife rehabilitator in New Haven, CT.  Kyra had flown into a barbed wire fence and became entangled.  The more he struggled to be free, the more damage the barbs did to the muscles in his right wing.  Kyra is now unable to fly other than very short distances.  Kyra now shares a large outdoor aviary with two of our other resident Red-tailed Hawks.

Red-tailed Hawk

(Buteo jamaciensis)

Average Height:  17-22 inches

Average Weight:  1 ½ -3 pounds

Wingspan:  3 ½-4 feet

Lifespan:  15-20 years in the wild

Description:  The Red-tailed Hawk is the most common buteo in the United States.  In the East, adults have a brown head and back, white underparts and a dark, sometimes incomplete, belly band.  Adults have a rufous-colored tail, seen from above or when perched.  Immatures have a light brown tail with narrow dark brown bands.

Call:  A loud, long, wheezy “kkeeeeeerr” is the most common call.  Blue Jays imitate this call extremely well.

Range:  Red-tails reside throughout the United States, and have many color variations in different parts of the country.  It is a very common resident of Connecticut and New York.

Habitat:  Red-tailed Hawks prefer to live in woodlands and open country with available roost sites.  They often hunt over open fields and meadows.

Diet:  About 85% of the Red-tails’ diet consists of rodents, but they also eat rabbits, squirrel, chickens, snakes, and frogs.  The Red-tailed Hawk is at the top of the food chain, so they have very little predators.  Man is their biggest predator.