Good News – A Broad-winged Hawk
Late this morning, as I walked along a shady road with woods and wooded yards on both sides, a large hawk suddenly swept past me very low, and so close that I felt and heard the sound of its wings in the air before I saw it – though it all happened fast. It passed by me almost at eye level, flew on across the road, and swept up onto a low branch of a tree on the edge of a yard. I thought it was a Red-shouldered Hawk, because I hear and see them fairly often in this area.
It sat with its back to me, turning its head one way and another, and it took me longer than it should have to realize that it was not a Red-shouldered – but a Broad-winged Hawk. A solid, stocky bird, its back was brown and the tail looked black, with one wide white band in the middle, and a narrow rim of white along the tip. The tail switched back and forth, from side to side, as if to call attention to itself – the obvious wide white band making it clear that this was a Broad-winged Hawk. After a couple of minutes like this, it turned around on the branch, facing toward me, showing a reddish breast, then abruptly flew down to the ground, catching and eating something small, taking several bites.
Broad-winged Hawks hunt from a perch like this, swooping down on their prey – large insects, frogs, toads, small mammals, sometimes small birds. I couldn’t see what this one caught – it might have been a frog, chipmunk or lizard, but because it seemed to consume it in just a few bites, I think probably it was a large insect like a beetle or grasshopper, or maybe a cicada. After only a minute or two, it then flew back across the road to another low branch in a tree, where it sat with its back to me again, and again the tail switched back and forth from side to side as it sat and looked around.
Two summers ago, Broad-winged Hawks nested successfully in this same area, but last summer, though I watched for them, I never heard their calls or saw one. And until this encounter today, I had not heard or seen one this year. Broad-winged Hawks are known for being very secretive in their nesting habitat, so maybe it’s not surprising I could have missed them, though I am surprised I haven’t heard their distinctive high, whistled calls – very different from the cries of either a Red-tailed or a Red-shouldered Hawk. The whistle of a Broad-winged Hawk sounds more like a small bird, and can pretty easily escape notice. It’s yet another good reminder for me of how easy it is to overlook something if I’m not paying full attention to what’s around me, especially if I’m not consciously watching or listening for it.
I don’t know for sure that this one is nesting here – but it seems likely. And now I’ll be watching and listening more closely. It’s very good news to see one again this year.