Travis Long - tlong@newsobserver.com A red-tailed hawk dries its wings after an afternoon rain on a rooftop perch on McDowell Street in downtown Raleigh. "They're OK as long as we're OK watching them eat a squirrel in front of us," says John Gerwin, curator of birds at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.
Regular readers of my blog already know that hawks have taken a liking to the target rich environment of Raleigh. I posted a video of a Cooper Hawk eating a squirrel near my office. The N&O did a story the other day about how these birds have adapted to life here in Raleigh feeding on pigeons and squirrels.
Three species of raptor now thrive on the densest, tallest, most traffic-choked blocks of downtown Raleigh, stalking rodents, birds and bugs in an urban version of Wild Kingdom.
The most successful of these urban birds of prey, red-tailed hawks, can be spotted looming down from three or four of the city’s highest rooftops nearly every afternoon.
This spring, a family successfully nested on the steeple of First Baptist Church, raising three chicks while thousands of pedestrians watched from Salisbury Street below.
Having raptors in the city is pretty cool and a great opportunity for city dwellers to see some unique wildlife action in the concrete jungle.
