RED TAIL HAWK KILLS GULL IN SUBURBAN PARKING LOT

On a cold and windy December the 15th, 2010, I received an excited telephone call from Mrs. K. Nash, a fellow wild-life observer who informed me that a hawk had killed a big gull in the Walmart Shopping Plaza in Setauket, New York. Mrs. Nash described the bird to me as "some kind of hawk" and "smaller than the gull". A short time later, she e-mailed me a photograph taken with her iPhone. The photograph revealed the bird to be a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). The photograph at left (by Mrs K Nash) depicts the bird sitting on the carcass of a Ring Billed Gull in the Walmart Shopping Center. Mrs Nash added that as she approached the hawk, it seemed unafraid, but annoyed at the intrusion and dragged its big prey further away along the asphalt surface. Undeterred, she retreated to her automobile, and drove it to a point where she was able to get close enough to make a fine photograph.

Later that day, I visited the site and sought out the carcass. It was located near the southern end of the parking lot adjacent to Route 347. It appeared to have lain undisturbed since the kill. The prey was indeed a mature Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis). The gull looked to be in good condition and seemed of average size for the species. According to Wikipedia, Ring bill adults "are 49 cm (19 in) length and with a 124 cm (49 in) wingspan". While according to the same source, the male Red-tailed Hawk "may measure 45–56 cm (18 to 22 in), while a female can measure 48 to 65 cm (19 to 26 in) long; wingspan is about 114 to 133 cm (45 to 52 in)." Thus if the photographed bird was a male, it was either very close in size (or probably smaller as the observer indicated) and with less of a wing span than its prey.

The initial attack on the gull appeared to have been made at the neck, which the Nash photograph seems to attest to as well. The carcass was found lying on its back, with its wings partly folded. The hawk apparently tore open the neck and consumed the gizzard (it was missing). However, the grainy contents of this organ were scattered in small clumps near the body. The contents appeared to be composed of small yellow seeds mixed with red-colored fruit-fragments (possibly a pomaceous fruit of some sort, or perhaps the berries of the Japanese Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) which birds are known to eat avidly and which grows in profusion near-by. The hawk appears to have then proceeded to consume the gull's breast. At the time I observed it, the skin was found neatly laid back and the full breastbone exposed. The high-arched bone was completely and neatly cleaned of all flesh. Furthermore, the soft cartilage at the tip of the breastbone and parts of the thin flat bone near the edge were torn away and were apparently also consumed. Also missing and presumably eaten was the liver and part of the intestines. In addition, the neck and back of the head were skinned and partly defleshed. Other than the gull's carcass, the scattered contents of the gizzard and one small puddle of blood there were few evidences of an attack. Few gull feathers were found(though it was windy), and recall that the original observer noted that the prey had been moved some distance.

The unusual attack on a gull by a Red-tail Hawk (waterfowl, and particularly gulls, are well down the list of preferred prey for this species), the large size of the prey, and the location of the kill in a well-used and active suburban parking lot were all unique enough to suggest that this event may be of interest to those who study and admire our native birds and their habits. As a consequence, believing it worthy of reporting to the general public I enter it here as one of Bob's Sermons in Stone and here too at rjkspeaks.

Thanks to Mrs Nash for her quick action and fine photograph.