As I've mentioned before, Ferruginous hawks have the largest gape (mouth opening) of any raptor. This is beneficial to them as their primary prey in the wild are ground squirrels and prairie dogs and it allows them to hork quickly before their food is stolen. They're also the fastest hawk and tend to chase a really, really long ways after running or flying game.The combination of the two makes can make it challenging to know if they caught something or not. Often a tuft of fur on the ground is the only evidence left by the time I get there!

Unless, of course, it's too big to hork down in one go, then it takes 3-4

Matt
Do they ever fly off with a chunk to eat at a more leisurely pace?
How many times per day do they need to hork?

Great pics. Beautiful bird.

Great photos! on a side note to you hear that the Air Force Academy's mascot falcon Aurora died this week. She was 23. The longest life of any of their mascot falcons.

hey Mike, she's eating about 80grams a day. When she tanks up at a kill she eats about 200grams and it takes her about 48-72 hours to get back down to flying weight again after.

Most of the rodents she catches are in the 50-150g range and she swallows them hole. Sometimes that means we're done for the day and sometimes she's willing to keep hunting.

The other question you asked refers to what's known as "carrying" , which the bigger hawks generally don't do as their prey is too big to fly off with. This is a big problem / vice with birds like kestrels, merlins, and cooper's hawks / sharp shinned hawks that catch smaller prey

That's BA!

Thanks again for sharing

I didn't know you were posting these again, thanks for sharing!!

Beautiful bird. We have a resident Cooper’s hawk in my neighborhood. Watching the interactions between crows and the hawk are interesting. The crows harass the h... out of him. Sometimes he catches one, and it’s goodby you crazy crow!

Now THAT'S a bird

Love these threads!

Frightful and Sam would approve.

Great Falconry Friday is back!!! Thanks for sharing the info and pics.

PS- Nate Romanowski approves

the (wild) red tail we have a nest cam on at Cornell is 17 and still breeding. Pale male is also a wild RT in NY and is still breeding at 28 YO. (both birds are banded)

no one holds a candle to Wisdom the albatross on Midway atoll, who is still breeding at 68 YO (at least -- she was banded as an adult --at least 5 YO -- in 1956!

Horking good stuff! Thanks for posting!

Simply beautiful. Thank you.

Birds of prey are feathered versions of Nate Romanowski!

Falconry Friday is back and awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Interesting, as always.

I think all raptors have huge mouths. Once watched a golden eagle choke down an entire Canada Goose wing feathers and all.



This one just heard a good one-liner.

Cookie and I were watching this guy one day when he latched onto a huge vole. Thinking we had chance to watch him work it up, we were surprised when it tossed it in the air and it was down the hatch in about 2 seconds. How they pass such morsels through such pencil thin necks is beyond me.

Great pictures and information as always, thanks!

Excellente!

Geno

Badass!

Beautiful birds you got there.

Wow! I wish I could have seen that!

Here in Sweden, female Golden Eagles (about 11.4 lb) kill caribou calves (12.5 pounds at birth). They don't swallow them in one gulp though!

Golden Eagles are badass.

Great to see Falconry Friday back!

John

When I was a kid, we had a hawk that landed in our yard one time,and it had a leg band on it and a little stretch of leather on it's leg, obviously somebody's bird. It was not afraid of us. Hung out in the yard for a few minutes before moving on. I always wondered if it found it's way back home or not. I've talked to a few falconers and the amount of time you folks put in with your birds is staggering. I hope it got back to wherever it had come from.