Hawk Jousts with Vultures

Image Courtesy of Alan D. Wilson, Naturespicsonline.com

A week ago on Monday (April 13, 2009) I went on a short hike, to check on the red-tailed (RT) hawk nest, on Cottonwood Creek. The sun was warm that day and the female RT was sitting on the nest, as she has been doing for the last 2-3 weeks. The eggs may have hatched by now. I was surprised to see 3 Turkey Vultures, dark brown colored with a two toned underwings, flying 200 feet above the aerie, which they apparently spotted, and one bird was starting to circle. It's amazing how graceful turkey vultures are, with their 5 foot wingspan.

Suddenly one of the vultures made an evasive move and I saw a streak of brownish-red flash by. A red-tailed Hawk had dive bombed the vultures, flying directly at them. The RT flew up the canyon a short distance and wheeled around, and was back in seconds, and cannonballed directly at the vultures. The vultures continuing up the canyon, rapidly gaining elevation, beating a hasty retreat. The RT made another pass, flying like a nimble fighter plane, compared to the vultures, which moved like lumbering cargo planes or bombers.

I suspect it was the male RT hawk protecting the female on the nest. The turkey vultures were probably just curious when they saw the female RT on the nest and they would have been in a real fix if they approached it, with the two adult hawks present. It all happened in less than a minute and the vultures were gone but the male RT continued to patrol up and down the canyon, for a short time, flying just a few hundred feet above the nest. The female RT stayed on the nest and never moved an inch during the entire encounter.

Then I saw the male RT quickly gain elevation and he was soon flying hundreds of feet above a nearby ridge. There was another hawk, riding the updrafts, along that same ridge top, and the male winged towards the intruder. He closed on the meddler but stayed back a dozen feet, and they flew wing to wing for a short time. Soon after there was only one soaring hawk in view. I am not which hawk it was.

On April 16th I checked on the raptors, and the female Red-Tailed Hawk was sitting quietly on the nest. I continued on my hike and was back in that area, a few minutes later and there were two hawks on the aerie. The male had returned to check on the female red-tailed hawk.