Red tail hawks

red tail in flight over shores of lake nacimiento

 Red tail hawks are a constant in our area, hardly a day goes by when you dont see one. on a recent drive from morro bay to san simeon we easily seen over forty of them perched on telephone poles, road signs, and fence poles along the way. we've sat in our kayaks at lake nacimiento and watched red tails go at it with the bald eagles each of them swooping within talon strike of each other unfortunately i didn't have a camera at the time but plan to return. one of the funnier points of a redtail is in movies featuring bald eagles they always substitute the eagles chirps with the shreak of the redtail i always laugh a little when i hear it. I often launch my kayak in cayucos california which is prime redtail habitat its along the bluffs with lots of open fields on the west side of the hwy 1 and open grazing land all along the east side. I always see the redtails hunting in the early morning when i'm on the trail to the cove, one day i was fortunate enough to see a pair in their courtship behaviour. locking talons and spinning downward toward the ground within a few feet before they seperated and landed. I've watched them carry a ground squirrel to the top of a telephone pole and start tearing it apart, both along the coast and inland.  

buteo jamaicensis



flock in cayucos ca



red tail meal, fresh ground squirrel



juvenile in flight