Red Tailed Hawk Catching a Mouse!

In rural western NY State Red Tailed Hawks are very common to see flying, soaring and calling overhead. It is somewhat unusual to catch them capturing lunch. We apologize for the photo quality, but we still wanted to do a post about the event. We were lucky the camera caught both the catch and the “fly away”. In the fields and pastures here there is an abundance of mice and meadow voles. A meadow vole is a larger mouselike animal with a short tail. These rodents are a frequent meal for owls, hawks, foxes, and snakes.

Red Tailed Hawk Catching a Meadow Vole

This Red Tailed Hawk has flown down and ambushed what we think is a meadow vole based on its somewhat large size and color. The hawk has taken a moment to secure it’s catch and is flying off to a more private place to consume it’s meal.

Red tailed hawk flying away with it’s catch!