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330 Hand-Rearing Birds

Hawks
Among the hawks, there are two general, distinctively different types. The “true” hawks or accipiters
tend to be long-legged, long-toed, long-tailed, short-winged birds whose sprint-like speed and
maneuverability in a typically wooded habitat allows them to make other birds a high percentage of
their diet. The soaring hawks or buteos (typically called “buzzards” outside the Americas) are birds
whose long, broad wings allow them to be relatively hefty, in a bird sense, because they are built for
gliding and soaring, but otherwise tend to be perch-and-pounce predators rather than chasers.
In North America north of Mexico, the hawks routinely found include three species of accipiters:
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and Northern Goshawk. There are also 11 species of buteos:
Red-tailed Hawk (having the largest range), Rough-legged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-
winged Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk (the next most widespread, at least during
certain times of the year), plus Short-tailed Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Black
Hawk, and Road-side Hawk, all of which have ranges that barely extend into the southern United
States. Harris’ Hawks are a parabuteo hawk found in the South western U.S. and down into Central
and South America.
Hawks are typically tree-nesting birds that build nests of sticks, in trees, cliff edges, or even on a
slight promontory on the ground, if that’s all that is available. Harris’ Hawks are fascinating com-
munal raptors that build stick nests on cactus. Where hawks re-use nests in subsequent seasons,
the nests are typically well-constructed and are refurbished as needed. Orphaned hatchlings or
nestlings come in most often because of windstorms blowing whole nests down or breaking
branches, or from logging or landscaping that takes out trees.

Harriers
Harriers are long-winged, slender birds that typically course back and forth over fields searching
for food using their owl-like facial disks, it is thought, to help locate their prey by sound. The one
representative of this group of birds in North America is the Northern Harrier (previously known
as the Marsh Hawk). This bird nests on the ground, making a rough nest with trampled grass and
some sticks, in tall grass or under a small shrub. Most eggs, hatchlings, or nestlings come in from
accidents with mowers, as the field is hayed or mown by someone not knowing that this secretive
bird has a nest there. Even food exchanges, where the male is bringing food to his mate and
offspring, take place away from the hidden nest.

Osprey
Osprey are found worldwide, always near water, and their diets are almost exclusively fish. Though
remains of a wide range of other prey items have been found in nests, such nonfish prey typically
represent a very small percentage of their diet. Osprey nests can be very bulky affairs, placed on the
very top of dead trees, power poles, or platforms introduced specifically for their nesting. Awkward
birds, except in the air, they seem to require clear access to their nests, rather than hiding them
down in the branches as most other raptors make some effort to do. Hatchlings or young nestlings
are sometimes blown down with a nest; and returning them can sometimes be difficult when the
nest is at the very top of a snag whose overall condition may make it dangerous to climb. If it does
not overburden a nest or place a nestling with much younger or much older adoptive siblings,
fostering into nests of a different pair placed on lower, often man-made platforms is a viable
alternative to returning them to their own nest. In captivity, this species is particularly difficult to