Pigeonhawk, Raven & Richardson’s Owl

The Pigeonhawk is nearly the same size as the Sparrow Hawk, but is distinguished by the difference in color. They are distributed over North America to northern South America, and nest in the upland regions from Alaska south in the mountains through Oregon to the Gulf of Mexico, and, eastward to Michigan and Maine. They spend the winter from California and the Gulf States south through the Islands and Mexico to Ecuador and Venezuela. They build bulky, moss, grass and feather-lined nests in the branches of trees or place their four or five thinly spotted white eggs, with only scant protection, on a rock ledge. Probably both birds share the incubation for about three weeks. The young have yellowish downy coats. These falcons are naturally birds of the forests, but during migration they hunt on the seashore and in the open meadows along rivers, where they feed on small rodents, insects and small birds, which they discover by watching from a chosen perch. When birds, or small animals are scarce, these hawks eat many destructive insect pests.

The Raven is one of our oldest known, cleverest and most intelligent bird. Mention of him and his habits appears in the earliest writings, for he is of worldwide distribution in the northern hemisphere. Three species are found in the United States, with general characteristics in common. The White-necked raven chooses the lower country of southwestern North America, while the Northwest Raven inhabits Canada and enters our northern states, following the mountains of the east to North Carolina. The American Raven, slightly smaller than the latter, lives on the west coast south to northern Central America. Their bulky nests, made of interwoven sticks lined with moss, cattle hair and other soft material, are placed in tops of trees or among crags in mountain canyons. The five to seven eggs are bluish-green, densely marked with brown and lavender. Food varies from carrion to mussels, insects and grain.

Richardson’s Owl is one of our smaller owls. It is nocturnal in its habits and seems to be unable to see well in the sunlight. For this reason it has been possible to capture them easily during the daytime. They are dwellers in coniferous forests of the far northern parts of North America, where they use hollows in trees for nests. Their two to seven eggs, characteristically unspotted white, are laid during May and June. Small rodents and insects active at night are their usual food. They migrate to the southward in winter, coming well into the states along the northern border of the United States and as far as Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania and southern New England. Their notes remind one of those of the Acadian owl, but are much sweeter and more varied, and are in some respects the most pleasing of all owl voices.