Date: 6/16/26 1:50 pm From: Louise via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Red-tailed Hawk Attack
Nice sighting, Jim! The only time I've seen a red-tail with prey, one was
eating a garter snake on a pole by a hiking trail near North Bend. Those
guys truly do have a broad diet.
Louise Rutter
Kirkland
On Tue, Jun 16, 2026 at 1:08 PM Jim Betz via Tweeters <
<tweeters...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Yesterday, when I was leaving I-5 for 11 (Chuckanut Drive) and was
> just exiting the
> roundabout on the West side of the freeway - a dark-colored bird
> streaked across
> the road in front of me and into the back side of the last bush before
> the open
> fields. There was one furious shaking of that bush and then I saw an
> RTH come
> out of the bush and cross back in front of me - this all took just a few
> seconds,
> no more than 10 or 20. As it recrossed the road I could see a medium-sized
> bird in its talons ... probably a robin, Twohee, or some kind of black
> bird ... but
> not large enough to be crow-sized. Looking in my rear view mirror I saw
> it go up
> towards the top of a pole but had to look away for traffic before actually
> seeing it land.
> The only other times I've seen RTH with prey have been a few rodents
> (voles
> probably) in the vicinity of the East 90 and once on the ground close to
> Maupin Road on Fir Island with a Green-winged Teal (consuming).
> I've seen Great Blue Herons with/taking prey quite often. And Bald
> Eagles
> on a pole consuming a duck. And the occasional Kestrel with a vole/mouse.
> But, as I said, it is usually after the actual "catch".
> I once saw and photographed an Osprey making repeated drops into the
> shallow water at Ship ... but it always came up empty (that day/that time).
>
> Wonderful to see the actual kill happening rather than the much more
> common "sitting on a pole or wire looking around for movement".
>
> - Jim in Skagit
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