Photo: Red-shouldered Hawks, Linda Krueger
Bird of the Month: Who’s that Calling in the Air?
By Jessica Biggers
“Tier, Tier, Tier, Tier, Tier.” Have you heard this call? It’s the call of a Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), but it could be a Blue Jay you’re hearing. Even if you have a discerning ear, the calls can be indistinguishable. Although I’ve found that a Red-shouldered Hawk call tends to be longer, a bit sharper, higher pitched and louder than its copycat.
There’s definitely a healthy population of resident Red-shouldered Hawks in Northern Virginia. Reston Association (RA) volunteers tallied 38 of them in Reston alone during this spring’s 24-hour bird survey.
They are also one of the Audubon at Home program’s Sanctuary Species. Red-shouldered Hawks in our area tend to live in deciduous forests with little understory, enabling them to see better while hunting. Although, you will also find them in residential areas on the edge of forests. There was even a nesting pair who strayed farther away from the woods to make their home in a maintenance shed at the RA Central Services Facility (CSF) in Reston last spring. Most red-shouldered pairs return to the same nest from year to year, but unfortunately our CSF occupants did not come back this spring.
If you do find a nest, take a look on the ground for bird poop, which is a good sign that it’s active. Red-shouldereds have one brood per year with a clutch of between two and five babies. Five days after the brood hatches, the babies start throwing their poop over the nest. Another earlier sign that you can look for is a nest decorated with pine boughs. You can often find some pine boughs on the ground near the nest.
During the breeding season, males do an elaborate aerial mating dance. They begin calling while soaring, and then make some steep dives towards the female. They fly back up in a spiral pattern before diving back down again to mate. Most Red-shouldered Hawks pair for life and usually hunt together year round.
These hawks are pretty easy to identify compared to their fellow hawk neighbors, like the Cooper’s Hawk. Their markings are distinguishable from the others; with their reddish-peach barred underside and a sharply defined banded tail. However, you are more likely to see them in flight than hiding out in a tree.
So, the next time you hear a “Tier, Tier, Tier, Tier,” listen very closely and see if you can guess who it is – your friendly red-shouldered neighbor or one of those sneaky Blue Jay mimics. Happy birding!
Sources:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-shouldered_Hawk/overview