• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Will a hawk take a squirrel? (1 Viewer)

R

RudeRat

Well-known member
I've had a broad winged hawk hanging around my yard the past few weeks, and recently so has an albino grey squirrel. Last night they were about 30 feet away from each other. That had me wondering, would the broad winged hawk eat the squirrel?
 
Hi,

I don't think a Broad-winged Hawk would take a squirrel, their main prey items seem to be more terrestrial.

Red-tailed Hawks, however, are know to take squirrels in trees.

Cheers
 
I would be shocked to see a Broad-winged Hawk attempt to take a gray squirrel.

I have Red-tailed Hawks that nest right behind my house. I have seen them just sit and watch squirrels on the ground hundreds of feet from trees or cover.

The only hawks I have ever seen take a squirrel have been juvenile Red-tails. I think that they soon learn that it is easier (and safer) to catch half a dozen meadow voles rather than one squirrel.

Mike
 
I've seen Young Cooper's Hawks take Grey Squirrels....I think we need them in the UK!

Cheers
 
Saw a Common Buzzard last month soaring over the woods behind the house with a Grey Squirrel dangling from its talons
 
I've seen Red-tailed Hawks take squirrels and full grown rabbits since I was a kid growing up in a rural farming area. I once saw a mature Red-tailed Hawk with a rabbit in its talons on the side of a road while leaving the Allentown, PA airport. And another time I saw one fly overhead with a snake in its talons.

Bob
 
Nutcracker said:
But was the rabbit alive when the hawk found it, or already roadkill?
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't roadkill. It was over 20 years ago and there was plenty of green space near the exit. I stopped the car and took a picture through the window with my Olympus XA 4.

In all my life I have never seen a Red-tailed Hawk with roadkill. One often sees them perched in trees along interstates in rural and farm areas here.

Goshawks were more common here in my youth, especially in the winter, and I remember seeing them perched in trees along farmer's fields which were on the edge of woods. I saw one take a squirrel in a field about 100 yards from my house. It was perched in a tree in a woods just behind a stone wall.

Bob
 
Broad winged hawk most likely no. But red tailed hawks can and do take squirrels often with very little effort.
 
Last edited:
The best I've ever seen was a snowy owl take a snowshoe hare in my headlights 25 feet in front of my truck as I was driving an overgrown woods road in northern Wisconsin one fall night. He pounced on it and then held it on the ground for about a minute and a half before carrying it about 15 feet into the woods off the road.

Thanks again for your replies on the hawk and the squirrel question.
 
Aaron Feuer said:
But red tailed hawks can and do take squirrels often with very little effort.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I've even heard it said that mated pairs sometimes hunt tree squirrels "cooperatively", one of the hawks chasing the squirrel round the trunk into the waiting claws of the other.
 
ceasar said:
I've seen Red-tailed Hawks take squirrels and full grown rabbits since I was a kid growing up in a rural farming area. I once saw a mature Red-tailed Hawk with a rabbit in its talons on the side of a road while leaving the Allentown, PA airport. And another time I saw one fly overhead with a snake in its talons.

Bob
Click to expand...

Red-tails are skilled at using surburban lawns and traffic.
I have seen two take squirrels here in Massachusetts.
Both times, it was a red-tail diving almost straight down,
turning in front of a moving car, and surprising a squirrel on a lawn.
One time it was my car "setting the pick", in the town center.
Just like red lightning...across my grille, between two parked cars,
and straight across the unwitting squirrel. Given the speed,
I think they could take anything squirrel or pidgeon-sized by surprise.
If they are watching critters from a high limb, they are searching
for that perfect opportunity. Even a jogger can be the distraction
they are looking for. Their population is really booming now.

Foxes hit rabbits here, but I can see how red-tails would fill the role
when foxes are not there.
 
Last edited:
There's a guy who hunts using Red-tailed Hawks near me. They'll often take Grey Squirrels. Our local Buzzards sit in the woods and wait for Squirrels to run beneath them then pounce.
 
I came right across this red tailed hawk while at work. I didn't witness the kill but it was a smaller squirrel. It paid no mind to me while it ripped the thing to bits.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    178.6 KB · Views: 191
Warning! This thread is more than 8 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

M
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk
Replies
0
Views
581
montynj1
M
BryanP
This mornings (March 18,24) raptor migration boil.
Replies
2
Views
313
BryanP
BryanP
O
How long do red tail hawks leave nest while there are eggs in it?
Replies
1
Views
1K
jujudrake
J
S
Flicker Box
Replies
1
Views
150
Kits
Kits
G
Red-Shouldered Hawk? Reston, VA, USA
Replies
2
Views
812
Butty
B

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top