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

 

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

· One, one millionth 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!

 

Harris’ Hawk

Photographer: Alli Halkey