Post by Master Yarak on Nov 6, 2008 13:07:07 GMT -5
I get quite a few questions about this so I thought others might gain something from this as well. I am going to put my thoughts on the relationship between these animals for all who care to can read them.
First the Red-Tail. Advantages; Big, powerful, high impact, strong feet. Disadvantages; Slow to accelerate, not highly maneuverable, slow to climb vertically. The perspective of this species; Ground hunting excels at mammals. Always attacks from above,looks down on almost everything, death from above. A strong prey drive elicits chases. Now for rats and rabbits this is a perfect way to go. It puts the advantages of the hawk into play. Squirrels...not so. Depending on what the experiences are with your particular bird prior to trapping it it may come with some idea about squirrels. I can almost say as an absolute, few if any passage birds subsist on hunting squirrels through the trees. The ones that have killed have been attacked on the ground a bit too far from safety. Again, putting the advantages into play.
Hunting successfully through the trees is an entirely learned behavior. It removes the advantages and replaces them with the disadvantages. How then is the bird to be successful, by learning how to put the advantages back. But where to start, first I think it should start with feeding lots of squirrels. I believe this to be as important as using baggies. It is how the hawk learns what to hunt just like its parents taught it. Next step is to take the bird out into a a place with an abundant squirrel population and sit quietly with the bird in the trees. This will allow the bird to observe there behavior. Something I have seen every green bird do is to lose the squirrel while it is going up higher into the canopy. Where do you think the bird begins looking to reacquire it....the ground. We can therefore see one of the squirrels defensive strategies come into play. Remember a hawk has a very hard time attacking something above it. Eventually especially if you are still while the squirrel flees the hawk will see one going up. That will be all it takes.
Tree squirrels.
Advantages; Very intelligent, great vision and hearing, rarely surprised, fast in the trees both vertically and laterally, tough hide.
Disadvantages; Slow on the ground, limited experience being chased through the trees by hawks.
Life for squirrel is fairly easy compared to other small mammals. It has a high reproductive rate its adaptable and has but a few consistent predators. Its diet is varied and its found almost everywhere there are trees. It is exclusively for the bite risk that not everyone hunts them who has them in abundance. Being arboreal gives the a big edge over potential enemies.
Understanding how to create a great squirrel hawk is much different than creating a great rabbit hawk. I will even go as far to say that a hawk that can hunt rabbits cannot necessarily hunt squirrels but a hawk that can hunt squirrels can also hunt rabbits. Which brings me to another important point. If you are going to hunt both, start with squirrels. It is hard enough to get the hawk to look up for food but once it is focused on ground quarry it can be almost impossible. Lastly one more bit of info. Having kept many species of raptor for rehab and having an abundance of one type of food all of them seemed to thrive on a diet of Bane caught squirrel.
Feel free to add your thoughts and experiences. I hope this helps.
Yarak
First the Red-Tail. Advantages; Big, powerful, high impact, strong feet. Disadvantages; Slow to accelerate, not highly maneuverable, slow to climb vertically. The perspective of this species; Ground hunting excels at mammals. Always attacks from above,looks down on almost everything, death from above. A strong prey drive elicits chases. Now for rats and rabbits this is a perfect way to go. It puts the advantages of the hawk into play. Squirrels...not so. Depending on what the experiences are with your particular bird prior to trapping it it may come with some idea about squirrels. I can almost say as an absolute, few if any passage birds subsist on hunting squirrels through the trees. The ones that have killed have been attacked on the ground a bit too far from safety. Again, putting the advantages into play.
Hunting successfully through the trees is an entirely learned behavior. It removes the advantages and replaces them with the disadvantages. How then is the bird to be successful, by learning how to put the advantages back. But where to start, first I think it should start with feeding lots of squirrels. I believe this to be as important as using baggies. It is how the hawk learns what to hunt just like its parents taught it. Next step is to take the bird out into a a place with an abundant squirrel population and sit quietly with the bird in the trees. This will allow the bird to observe there behavior. Something I have seen every green bird do is to lose the squirrel while it is going up higher into the canopy. Where do you think the bird begins looking to reacquire it....the ground. We can therefore see one of the squirrels defensive strategies come into play. Remember a hawk has a very hard time attacking something above it. Eventually especially if you are still while the squirrel flees the hawk will see one going up. That will be all it takes.
Tree squirrels.
Advantages; Very intelligent, great vision and hearing, rarely surprised, fast in the trees both vertically and laterally, tough hide.
Disadvantages; Slow on the ground, limited experience being chased through the trees by hawks.
Life for squirrel is fairly easy compared to other small mammals. It has a high reproductive rate its adaptable and has but a few consistent predators. Its diet is varied and its found almost everywhere there are trees. It is exclusively for the bite risk that not everyone hunts them who has them in abundance. Being arboreal gives the a big edge over potential enemies.
Understanding how to create a great squirrel hawk is much different than creating a great rabbit hawk. I will even go as far to say that a hawk that can hunt rabbits cannot necessarily hunt squirrels but a hawk that can hunt squirrels can also hunt rabbits. Which brings me to another important point. If you are going to hunt both, start with squirrels. It is hard enough to get the hawk to look up for food but once it is focused on ground quarry it can be almost impossible. Lastly one more bit of info. Having kept many species of raptor for rehab and having an abundance of one type of food all of them seemed to thrive on a diet of Bane caught squirrel.
Feel free to add your thoughts and experiences. I hope this helps.
Yarak