red tailed hawk (1 Viewer)

hello i have just returned from cuba where i witnessed turkey vultures riding thermals, as they tend to do, but amongst the vultures there were smaller birds of prey. i am assuming these were red tailed hawks by there general shape,although i could not see any clear markings. i was wondering weather anyone knows if this is a common thing, or if there are any other raptors they were more likely to have been.

The commoner large hawks in Cuba should be Osprey, Snail Kite, N Harrier, Cuban Black Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, and Red-tailed Hawk according to a 15-year-old book I have. Among these, the two last are probably most likely to do thermals, but especially in migration time some of the others can do that too.

Niels

That is common here in Northeast PA. Both Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks particularly like thermals coming off the interstate highways.

We took a trip to Cape May this past weekend using the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Atlantic City Expressway and the Garden State Parkway and saw dozens of soaring Turkey Vultures and lesser amounts of Red-tailed Hawks on the trips down and back.

Bob