Raptor Facts
Don't get caught believing all those
old myths about raptors - here's a few facts
Raptors
70% of all raptors die in their first year of life, many from
inexperience, collisions, shootings, electrocutions,
and pesticide
exposure, only 50% of the remaining make it the second year
Will not reproduce in the spring if they cannot
find food for themselves
Hunt only when hungry, consuming 10% of their body weight daily
Females are 30% larger than the males and mate for life
Reach mature size by 6-8 weeks of age, but take
longer to learn survival skills
Red Tailed Hawks
Weigh 2-3 lbs = 2-3 cans of soda, can only carry up to 1/2
their body weight
Eats 3-4 mice each day or 1 rat, averaging 1800 rodents in
one year, 6,000 if feeding young
80% or more of their diet are crop damaging mice and rats,
2% are birds
Can see a mouse a 1/2 mile away
Nest in the spring, hatching 2-3 young, male does most
of the hunting, sometimes sitting 100 feet from the nest
to keep watch over his family
2 week old Red Tailed Hawk Chick
Great Horned Owls
Weigh 3-4 lbs = 3-4 cans of soda, can only carry up to the
equivalency of their body weight
Eats 4-5 mice a day or 1 rat, averaging 1800 rodents in one year,
6,000 if feeding young
80% or more of their diet are crop damaging mice and rodents,
5% are birds
Only species known to eat skunks
Young take longer than most other owls to learn to kill their own
food, may take 5-6 months
1/1,000,000 of their diet may be a small domestic animal as it may
look similar to a rabbit. Your pet is safe with you
outdoors as wild animals are naturally fearful of man
Can hear a mouse chewing 200 feet away, flying very silently
See well in the day, mostly in black and white, best in dim light
Rodents
Mice and rats can reproduce every 6 weeks having up to 15 babies in a litter, in 6 months
they can multiply into 1/2 million
In 6 months over 25% of our worldwide grain supply would be depleted if you took out all the
natural predators in the world
Wisconsin averages 100 rodents per acre of land, in some places the numbers
are as high as 400
We need to protect these species to the fullest extent
of the law
to feed a growing human population!