Red-tailed Hawk

The Red-tail Hawk is the first bird featured on a wonderful series called The Life Of Birds.

This is an excellent Mini-series with ten episodes. The first episode is called To Fly Or Not To Fly and features flying and nonflying birds.

On the show the Hawk is shown hunting bats, and nothing more is revealed about the bird, only what a spectacular hunter it is. They will hunt any type of small animal, including pets. Dogs and cats under 15 pounds are at risk when these Raptors are around.

These are very common in the DFW area where I live, and once I found  dove feathers that the Hawk had left in my backyard, because Hawks need land before eating. The feathers and head where all I could find. Of course, I don't have proof that it was a hawk except there were dozens of them flying over our neighborhood that day.

One I saw  hundreds in the air, and recently found out the reason. The hawks were migrating through our area, or from what I've read and the footage I've seen I believe this to be true-- it's a beautiful sight.

It can be very difficult to watch birds of prey on documentaries, since I feel such compassion for their prey, especially when they are crying out in fear and pain. It's especially hard when they capture little defenseless babies (usually other birds), and the parents are upset, but they can't fight a bird so much larger than they are.
No one can help the way they were born, and they're hungry or they're trying to feed their hungry babies.

This bird lives all over North America, and is gaining strength in numbers, and is least concern on the Bird conservation Status.
The video shows wonderful coverage of these beautiful birds growing up--they are extremely cute when they're little.