Speaking of Red-tail Prey

Prairie Vole

One of my daughter's friends, born and bred in NYC, asked the other day, "Just what does a Vole look like?"

Well, a bit like a chunky mouse that's lost part of its tail.

Voles are a country Red-tail favorite and depending on the subspecies, usually range in size from 6 to 12cm. A female Prairie Vole like the one above often weighs a touch under 2 ounces. Meaning that if a Red-tailed Hawk wanted to while away part of the day surveying his territory with a bulging crop like Pale Male does, he'd have to hunt and eat quite a number of them in short order.

And as surmised, young Woodchucks are tasty.

Thank you to D. Bruce Yolton of http://urbanhawks.blogs.com/ for this follow-up to John Blakeman's and my discussion concerning Woodchucks as prey for Red-tails.

G. Ronald Austing does list young Woodchucks as Red-tailed Hawk Prey
in his book.

(G. Ronald Austing is an admired bird photographer and the author of The World Of The Red-tail Hawk. D.B.)