As I alluded to last time, most falconers think Ferruginous Hawks should actually be classified as booted eagles (Aquila sp.). This is partly due to their size, strength, intelligence, and temper (!). It's also partly due to their general behavior , both in the field and at home. The USFWS at least partly agrees, as those interested in acquiring what's known as an eagle endorsement are required to have experience with a Ferruginous hawk (among others) as a pre-requisite.


Ferrugis evolved largely in open country from about Kansas west and are comfortable nesting on the ground when necessary. Indeed, they'd rather perch on flat ground than any branch or bow perch. They are also prairie dog hunters supreme, having relatively small feet and the patience to play whack-a-mole. They also have the largest mouth (gape) of any raptor and can swallow an adult prairie dog whole (which is really quite the thing to see!)

When they're not sitting in wait at a prairie dog town, they are as strong a flier as a golden eagle, if not quite as fast. Way, way faster than a red tail though, and will chase as long as they can maintain a visual. You have to have a pretty big area to fly them and be pretty confident in radio tracking as she'll go a half mile or more on a chase.

Factiod of the day: In Kansas there is an ongoing experiment on two large ranches re: prairie dog control. Ferrugies came back in these areas once they stopped poisoning prairie dog towns and through about year 5, the ferrugies have been more effective at controlling prairie dog populations than the poisoning program was.

fair warning if you want to try this yourself though: there are occupational hazzards!

Great pics and thanks for the info.

Was that a beak or talon injury? Did you have glasses deflect the hit?

What's wingspread, weight? Do they take jackrabbits, fawns, piglets,..?

What's ferruginous mean?

I think it's from that one book about all that sex stuff.

Talon - one in the temple, one in the medial corner of my eye, one lacerating underneath...


Wingspan is a little over 5 feet, weight is generally 1400-1800 grams for a female with males a third smaller.

They naturally focus on ground rodents - they can lay up to six eggs but will vary that based on the current rodent population.

They are more than capable of taking jackrabbit sized prey but it's not something they'd naturally focus on and thus it takes a bit to build up confidence.

Luna has killed about a dozen rodents, two pheasants, a young skunk but not jacks yet. She's come close, but is still a little intimidated by them

oh, and ferruginous comes from ferrous or iron colored. Adults are mostly white with red head and wings

Ferruginous gumbo would be on the menu if the bird was mine.

Darn, his wife coulda put his eye out with that book, Fb.

Thanks Lefty,
they definitely are impressive birds. Saw my first on up on the Palouse in E WA. Dark morph, when I saw it I thought that's an awfully large hawk.

Supposed to be in their range here in NE Cali, but I haven't noticed one yet.

Cool that you get to work them.

Geno

Ok. Thanks.

Hey Barry, my truck is ferruginous.

Good deal. Thanks. I raised a cripple red tail as a big kid. The crush power is unreal. As an eye doc I guess you know with a medial orbital talon penetration you're lucky it didnt squeeze real hard or you would have lost an eye. Darn.

Ferocious looking bird, looks like it carries a little attitude too.


Glad she missed the eyeball, I see she got the hair though........

What did you do to get it to let go?

she just panicked and used my face as a push off point. it wasn't malicious, she just spooked (at about 14wks old). those talons are razor sharp though and eye skin is paper thin -- it doesn't take much!

Sounds like you've had some experience, Paul. Did it taste like chicken?

Good deal. That was close. Are those what is often referred to as chicken hawks? Are they indigenous through Texas, east to west?

Thank, Utah.

utah-colorado-nevada- NM & AZ is the heart of their year round range. western kansas, oklahoma, and texas are in their winter range (nearly exactly the western half of each state)

summer range extends north to the US border


http://www.prairiewildlife.org/hawk.html

Thanks. It seems I see very few of the huge hawks here in Texas like I did 50 years ago.

Beautiful bird! What a bad ass.

Bad ass looking bird.

Cool stuff.

While shooting SD Pdog towns I have them land on dead ones. I've had them do this numerous times and have once had a golden eagle land in close. I feel obligated to move for fear some LEO is going to accuse me of harassing raptors and give me a ticket. I like seeing them and don't have a problem with relinquishing the killing field to them. Of course I just move and start over. They don't follow me and seem happy staying on a kill. Never have seen one swallow a whole dog, they tear into them. But of course I may be wrong with my bird identification. There are lots of large raptors around the prairie dog towns. An active eagle nest is at the edge of my favorite town. The ranch has poisoned in previous years but not lately.

That close call with your eye reminded me of the scene in the movie “The Vikings” with Kirk Douglas and Ernest Borgnine when Kirk D. was attacked and blinded by the hawk or falcon (don’t remember which one it was).

REALLY nice looking bird.

Saw that just the other day. It was a Goshawk.

John

Keep these going Lefty. Absolutely some of the best threads on the fire.

John

Swallow an entire prairie dog?


Skeptical! Maybe a small one.

I can believe it -- Gos are faster than thought. If you're curious, the other two in the triad that are required to get an eagle endorsement are a Great Horned Owl and a Goshawk

I've always wanted to get into falconry.

Thanks for this thread - the photos are excellent and show aspects not easy to see in live settings in the wild. We have observed numerous Ferruginous Hawks from time to time here at our high elevation location in western NM. They are fabulous hunters and very fast compared to the local Red Tailed Hawks. As you mentioned, in some ways they act/fly like Golden Eagles but consistently appear to be smaller than our average Golden here. Are these sometimes also called "Rough Legged Hawks"? Beautiful bird. Thanks again.

they're about half the size of a golden eagle.

Rough legged hawks are a separate species that aren't really used for falconry. They're a northern migrant to our part of the country and typically don't show up until Nov or later

Thanks realy like your info on the Hawks! Please keep them coming!