[Umpqua Birds] Re: Red-tail hawks mating behavior......
- From: Elva Paulson <elvapaulson@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 23:26:08 -0800
HI rick,
We have seen this behavior. I used to think it was courting behavior, but
according to Cornell's "Birds of North America Online' (subscription required)
it is aggression i.e. getting rid of the interloper. Usually the birds part
before hitting the ground, although sometimes is seems more like a crash
landing. Other raptors do it too.
Copulation takes place on a perch. I've also seen that several times.
Elva Paulson
Roseburg
On Feb 27, 2014, at 8:28 PM, Rick Foster wrote:
> Hopefully I don't get scolded too harshly, reprimanded or banished from
> Douglas County because even though this post is about birds...it's about
> birds in a different county and contains inferences of sexual activity that
> was witnessed but not definitively seen !!!! I work in Norway (Coos County)
> in a small custom sawmill as a sawyer. Being on the edge of Coquille Valley,
> I get to see quite a few raptors as they try to utilize the thermals even
> when they doesn't appear to be any. I can turn around from my 52" circle saw
> and have a very good view of the surrounding valley. Today I saw a pair of
> Red-tail hawks (RTHA) circling above which they have been doing all week.
> Then a 3rd one joined in and I assumed they were searching for food which may
> have been an erroneous assumption, but as I wondered why they would all be
> circling in such a small area, I briefly looked away (I was supposed to be
> sawing logs lol), and when I looked back up 2 of them had joined together by
> their talons and were spinning rapidly downwards. My first impression was 2
> ice skaters holding hands and spinning faster and faster in a circular
> fashion until they are just a blur.....which actually makes no sense to me
> since I don't watch figure skating during the Winter Olympics. But it was an
> amazing sight as they were descending and spinning faster and faster.....when
> I am sure I could imagine the male saying "I would love to cuddle longer
> but we better separate soon before we crash onto that unit of 2 X 6 boards
> below us". Okay - maybe a bit too much anthropomorphizing...but whatever
> their thoughts they separated. Since I was supposed to be sawing - I had no
> Binocs with me plus my notoriously poor eyesight, so I never actually saw any
> copulation going on but there was definitely no hostile or aggressive looking
> behavior by either of them...they just went their own way and slowly gained
> altitude again. I lost track of the 3rd one and eventually the 2 main players
> as they slowly moved eastward.....towards Douglas
> County<090102~1.GIF><090102~1.GIF><090102~1.GIF>
>
> This is the second time I have witnessed this activity from RTHA's - the
> first being in the middle 1970's when I was a novice birder (I know many of
> you think of me as still a novice birder, but I have it on good authority
> that I am at least advanced beginner lol), and we were in the Anza Borrego
> Desert east of San Diego. That time also included 3 RTHA's but that time I
> actually saw two of them come together, one of them flipped backside down and
> talons up and the second one moved effortlessly above it as they joined
> talons also. The main difference then was they just kind of did a free fall,
> no spinning like these 2 today did. I don't recall how far the free fall was
> since I had nothing to gauge it against but they eventually separated and
> continued with their circling.
>
> Now for my 2 questions: Has anyone else seen this behavior with RTHA's or
> other raptors? Would it be wrong for me to conclude that I was observing
> mating behavior?
>
> Rick Foster
> Myrtle Point
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