This morning after returning home from a visit to the vet's office with our dog Bear, I was settling things in the garage when I heard loud screeches coming from outside. As I was coming upstairs, I noticed that these loud screeches were coming from two beautiful "hawks" or "falcons" in the front yard. Together, they were swirling around one another and almost playing a game of tag high in the air. I ran inside, grabbed my camera and started taking the best pictures that I could at the time. After I watched them fly off into the distance, I came inside to load my pictures and research them a bit.
As far as I can tell from these pictures, both of these birds seem to resemble red-tailed Hawks. Red-tailed Hawks are one of three species known in the United States and can adapt to all types of weather. They reside in most of North America but can be found as far south as Panama and the West Indies. They can weigh between 1.5 to 3.5 pounds, measure 18 to 26 inches in length and their wingspan can measure 43 to 57 inches. This beautiful bird is also protected in the United States under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Red-Tailed Hawk is also significant to Native American history, as their feathers are considered sacred in certain tribes. Something I found, that I thought was incredible is just how fast this bird can fly. Traveling through the air along with the wind, the Red-tailed Hawk can fly 20 to 40 mph but when it dives it can exceed 120 mph. After researching this amazing bird, I can only assume that what I saw today was
either interaction between a mating pair which will hopefully produce a clutch of 1 to 3 eggs in March/April or a mature male Red-tailed Hawk fighting off an immature Red-tailed Hawk, whom was entering his property. Either way, it was amazing to see. Again, I am blessed to live where I do and have the opportunity to enjoy sights like this on a regular basis.
