February 2006
Hollister Hawks
We are lucky to have a broad diversity of birds of prey on the Ranch. They are easy to tell apart if you know what to look for. Here are the most common ones:
Red-Tail Hawk- our most common large hawk with broad wings and fan-shaped rust-red tail. Primarily a gopher and ground squirrel killer but will eat almost anything including frogs and insects.
Turkey Vulture- not really a “bird of prey” since it is a scavenger but definitely one of the most common hawk-like birds you will see on the Ranch. Distinctive black and white wing pattern with orange-red head. Finds its food by sight and smell. Roosts in eucalyptus groves. Gregarious, except in breeding season.
Coopers Hawk- medium-sized shy hawk with a long straight tail with barred markings. Primarily a bird eater and often flies low in trees along creeks. Fairly common on Ranch but rare elsewhere.
American Kestrel- our smallest hawk, just larger than a blue jay. Common, often hovers in one place when hunting. Eats insects, lizards, birds, and rodents and nests in tree holes
Northern Harrier- winter visitor; just larger than Coopers Hawk with a long tail and white rump. Has low, tilted flight when hunting rodents, frogs, and small birds.
Osprey- another winter visitor. Large bird with blotchy white markings similar to bald eagle. Hangs out along the railroad tracks and only eats fish.
White-tailed Kite- small hawk with distinctive black shoulders and all-white body and breast. Hovers low to spot rodents in our coastal sage habitat. Rare on the Ranch.
Possible occasional visitors include the Peregrine Falcon, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Golden Eagle, and Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Check out your bird guide for more complete descriptions and habits of these birds.
Hawk Conservation Issues
Hawks don’t mix well with the infrastructure of our “advanced” civilization. They get killed by cars when hunting on roads, by power lines, and by suburban sprawl that destroys their habitat and nesting sites. Most of these problems are not a big issue on the Ranch where we appear to have a very healthy hawk population and plenty of habitat.
But there are potential threats to our Ranch hawks. Hawks are top-of-the-food-chain predators and susceptible to toxins like pesticides and rodenticides that can accumulate in their tissue and cause reproductive failure or death. While DDT, which damaged many hawk populations in the recent past, has been illegal in the US since 1972, a major concern today is the use of rodent poisons like D-con or Rodex, which will kill hawks and owls indirectly. Since D-con and similar products take several days to kill, once consumed, there is plenty of time for a sick mouse or gopher to be eaten by hawks as it wanders around. Any poisoning of varmints will poison their predators as well. So be sure to trap your mice, gophers, and ground squirrels, don’t poison them, and we can continue to enjoy these wonderful birds. We recommend the standard “snap trap” as it is quick and humane and less likely to trap non-target species. If you use the glue pans, keep them inside so other critters don’t get caught in them.
If you find an injured hawk, do not try to handle it as you can do it more harm if it struggles. Place a large box over the bird to keep it calm and protect it from predators, then immediately call the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network Hotline at 805-966-8005.