The red-shouldered hawk is a forest bird. It’s loud call (kee-aah) can be heard early in the breeding season when it is courting and establishing its nesting territory. The call is often mimicked by the blue jay. Their wingspan can range from 35-50 inches. Males weigh 1.21 pounds and females weigh 1.5 pounds.
The hawks are usually seen perched where they wait to pounce on prey rather than soaring like the red-tailed hawks. These hawks have a presence in the piney woods of East Texas to as far as the Edwards Plateau region here in central Texas. They breed in Texas mid-February to late June based on eggs collected. Their habitats coincide very closely with those of the Barred Owl, with which these hawks often nest in close proximity without apparent conflict. These raptors often use the same nest in alternate years. The owl and the hawk occasionally use the same nest successively in the same season; and there are some cases of mixed clutches in which both species incubate. They also eat similar prey and hunt in the same area, one by night and the other by day.
The Cherokee belief is that red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks are messengers of vision. When you see one of these beautiful birds, whatever it was you were thinking about at the time is going to happen to you or it is going to come true and manifest in your life.
Hawks eat voles, chipmunks, frogs and toads; they may eat crayfish in some areas. They also eat snakes, small birds, mice, large insects, and occasionally fish but rarely carrion. They search for prey while perched on tree tops or soaring. Like most raptors they have very sharp vision. They will attack birds up to the size of a ruffed grouse or ring neck pheasant. They have long lives, as long as within a month of 20 years.
In our neighborhood of Oak Heights, they have made their homes in our large trees. A few years back a red-shouldered hawk took down a white-winged dove across the street from my house. Two blue jays were dive-bombing the big hawk on top of the roof to make the action even more exciting.
