These photographs are free to download for educational or personal digital sharing, provided clear credit is given to the photographer (JH Kilbuck). In lieu of payment, please consider making a donation to the local SPCA Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Monterey Audubon, or an animal rescue group of your choosing.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Highly territorial and fiercely competitive, Red-tailed Hawks actively defend their home territory from a wide variety of rival birds of prey. They are versatile hunters with a taste for snakes and squirrels. Young juveniles practice their skills through unusual behaviors, attacking stationary dirt clods and mimicking adult hunting techniques, which includes learning to steal prey. In the spring, even as mature adults focus on reinforcing mating bonds and repairing their nests, they remain consummate opportunists—because in their world but catching a squirrel is one thing, holding onto it is another.