The Red-bellied Hawk 



Photo by 



Donald R. Dickey 



YOUNG RED-BELLIED HAWKS 



ping bark." It is repeated in a 

 ringing series which sets the woods 

 agog, kee a' kee a' kee a' kee a', or 

 yee-ak' yee-ak' yee-ak'. The bird- 

 man, especially the egg-man, 

 counts this a lovely sound, but it 

 is doubtful if the rest of nature's 

 children, either furred or feathered, 

 agree with him. 



Of the nesting Mr. C. S. Sharp 

 of Escondido is most competent to 

 speak ;i "Unlike the other large 

 hawks the red-bellied does not seek 

 a commanding situation for its nest. 

 It is unusual to find them nesting 

 in isolated trees, and it is very 

 seldom the nest is visible from any 

 great distance as is often the case 

 with the Redtail and Swainson 

 hawks. The preference is for some 

 fairly thick willow and cottonwood 

 grove and they have a great fond- 

 ness for Eucalyptus groves, mak- 

 ing their nests at times on the 

 masses of bark that have sloughed 

 off and collected in some large 

 crotch of the main branches. These 

 nests are, as a rule, very well con- 

 cealed and only flushing the bird, or the sight of the handsomely barred 

 tail over the edge, gives proof of what is there. This concealment, how- 

 ever, can hardly be considered as deliberate, for beyond the fact of the 

 choice of a thick growing tree or a grove for the location of the nest there 

 is never any attempt at it. 



"The nest is generally about 50 feet from the ground, the height de- 

 pending largely on the size of the surrounding trees, and may be an old crow's 

 or hawk's nest remodeled, or an elaborate structure of the bird's own com- 

 position. If undisturbed the same nest will often be occupied year after 

 year; but the birds generally have a second or third nest in reserve and 

 will alternate, almost invariably doing so if a first clutch of eggs is taken. 

 Where the gray Spanish moss is convenient to the nesting place a great 



article. 



1 "Nesting of the Red-bellied Hawk." by C. S. Sharp. Condor. Vol. VIII., Nov. 1906, pp. 144-148 — an excellent 



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