A hunt of hawks. A cast of hawks. A kettle of hawks. A conspiracy of hawks. A boil of hawks. An aerie of hawks. I’ve come across several collective nouns for hawks in the past few hours. I was searching for the right word, because on the morning of January 4, 2024, between 9:30 a.m. and 10:40 a.m., I counted five of them in the Clove of Inwood Hill Park.
The forest was bare of leaves with little color in the landscape. The air was pleasingly chilly. Against this monochromatic landscape, I watched hawks gather in a small section of the Clove. This low valley of the park nestled between two hills may afford the hawks tactical advantage in hunting small animals.
Squirrels were abundant on that morning, and the hawks were interested in them. Over the course of an hour or so, I observed the hawks hunting the squirrels in tandem. The hawks flew from branch to branch or from a tree to the ground just to achieve the right angle and momentum for a squirrel capture. At first there was one hawk, then two, and then three. At some point I was trying to sort them out as in a game of three-card monte when two suddenly flew off in the direction of the Salt Marsh, and I looked back to see three remaining.
I also observed that squirrels know the ways of the hawks. They hid on the other side of tree trunks or moved in closer, forcing the hawks to fly to another tree to try another fast assault from a more favored angle. A few Blue Jays came to watch and make some noise. You won’t see squirrels in these pictures because they made themselves practically invisible.
During January, Red-tailed Hawks are typically searching for nesting sights, and this activity may account for the five gathered on that morning. This month should provide additional opportunities to observe if any pair of them desires to stay.
No squirrels were harmed during my time in the forest.
Cover: Wide view of a Red-tailed Hawk in the winter forest of Inwood Hill Park. January 4, 2024 10:46 a.m.
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