Hey Ben, I have the privilege of flying an imprint male Ridgway's Hawk (pretty similar to RSH) and definitely got a good impression on the capabilities of these little hawks; the almost vertical ascending, maneuverability and manners. If interested in a talk, just let me know.

These buteos keep captivating me whenever I look into falconry (helped by Red-Shouldered hawks being nearly omnipresent in my region), no matter how many bad things I hear about them as falconry birds. If I were to ever get into falconry, my dream is to have a red-shoulder that can hunt bullfrogs, starlings/doves/pigeons, and rodents/rabbits. Thank you so much for the insightful overview of these birds!

Hi Ben, I SO enjoyed this video. I love RSH’s I have 2 resident pairs that live in the suburban wood behind my home. They bathe and water in a trough I keep for deer, they are quite used to me, They have a unique food source, when our June bugs emerge they hunt them. One of the males ( I only speculate the sex as the smaller of the 2) has no problem following me when I mow and pouncing them. He has no problem standing in the grass 3-4’ from me. I reminds me of when I still lived on our farm and would plow or mow with the big farm Eq in Jan and Feb there might be 50-100 Swainson’s following me pouncing rodents. I believe that is called a Kettle? Since becoming interested in Falconry I have had the privilege of seeing 2 Grey’s and numerous Harris’s in the wild. I live just South of San Antonio, Texas. Great video, love the channel

Hello Ben. Here in Brazil there are so many roadside hawks, literally in every city, on farms, roadside hawk are more common hawk species, but our laws do not allow capturing and training them. Now here is just a roadside hawk breeder, but the price is high, higher than the value of a parabuteo unicinctus, a much more "noble" bird for falconry, so few falconers have ever tested this species.

@benwoodrufffalconry

2 ай бұрын

That is really interesting! Are you allowed to trap any wild species at all in Brazil?

@MrBFvet

2 ай бұрын

@@benwoodrufffalconry @benwoodrufffalconry I'm not allowed to trap. Here no one is allowed in true, only few people have autorization to reab injury birds and then reintroduce it in wilderness again. By the way, thanks for answer me. I learn so much with your videos.

@benwoodrufffalconry

2 ай бұрын

@@MrBFvet absolutely. Thank you for sharing your experiences and perspectives on here. I very much appreciate it!

Ben, love all the info in your videos. It really helps fill in info for an aspiring falconer. Keep up the great videos

I'm in Yucaipa, California, and we have Red Shouldered hawks that nest here. They are wonderful. They fly so low, and their calls for their partner in the morning can't be mistaken. They're so much fun to watch.

These videos always bring me so much joy, just the calm but excited delivery of information, the open mind but respect for tradition, not just considering a bird’s usage for people but how remarkable it is on its own; everything about them just makes for absolutely fantastic videos.

Hi from a falconer in the UK, I fly a female Harris hawk, she can be an absolute cow if the weather is to bad to fly her, she hates the rain. I love the saber cat skull. Love your video's.

My neighbor has a RSH that will perch behind his house. He’ll occasionally throw out a piece of raw chicken and BAM, it’s on it. These birds have been overlooked. Most eastern states have now put them on the apprenticeship list so hopefully we’ll see an increase in the sport. If anyone has video footage, please post it and start sharing information.

Absolutely love red shouldered hawks, I would love to fly one some day. I imagine they’d be pretty good for hunting squirrels and the invasive iguanas in Florida.

HI Ben, I flew a Red Shoulder Hawk as my second bird after a Kestrel. It was given to me by a rehabber after it was found starving as a passage bird. We think it was a female but very little info out there. She was a wonderful bird. I had her follow on in the woods. Not very successful hunting but she did catch several lizards and a snake. We kept her over the molt as her tail feathers were a mess. Very brittle feathers. We released her in great condition and good health. She was a very sweet bird and friendly to everyone. Very vocal.

@benwoodrufffalconry

2 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your experiences

In my school club, weird critters, we're obsessed with your videos! Sometimes if we dont have any suggestions on animals to talk about, we'll put your videos on for half an hour. I know a falconer whose apprentice's bird died right after Christmas. He got a Red shoulder, and so far shes stubborn (duh because it was January when he got her haha) but managable. Great videos on these weirdos as always Ben! Get better and have a nice day (or else haha)

Super interesting!

Thanks for a great video

I've said this before, but thank you so much for these videos. As a birder, they add so much to observations made in the field that aren't often discussed in books. These videos are always a pleasure

@happybee7725

3 ай бұрын

You don’t do falconry? Just a bird lover like myself that enjoys learning about the birds themselves?

@seandoumbek

3 ай бұрын

@@happybee7725 yep 100%, and these videos still translate so well just from a birding perspective. Best info i've come across

@happybee7725

3 ай бұрын

@@seandoumbek I’m glad I’m not the only non falconer that watches. I’ve learned so much about birds of prey from this channel.

Sir, please make a video on weight management during summer (how to keep birds motivated to hunt during hot season)

Great video! I have been following your page for a while. My very 1st falconry bird was a passage male Redshouldered hawk named George. I flew him for 2 yrs before letting him go. He was a fantastic bird & I have old footage of him on my insta page.

@barnabas111

3 ай бұрын

What was the game that you hunted?

Hey Ben, sometime could you talk about size variability in Harris’ Hawks? While trapping this season in south Texas I saw families of huge HH’s that were after ground-based quarry, which are the HH’s that I’ve seen breeding here. But I also saw a family of 6 tiny HH’s, and another tiny pair later on, that were after wintering birds in the grocery store parking lot. The first family I saw was so small that it was hard to believe they were actually Harris’ Hawks - but they were, markings and behavior were undeniable. Is there regional size variability in Harris’ Hawks? And is there any evidence of prey specialization related to size? Love the channel, thanks for all your hard work.

Great informative video like always. Love your content wish you did more. Would love an informative video on tame hacking. Not many videos on it at all.

@barnabas111

3 ай бұрын

I would like to see that as well. Not much info for viewing.

Roadside was actually split from Buteo, still related but in its own genus now, Rupornis.

3:21 is, i believe, a black chested buzzard-eagle, sometimes called the chilean blue eagle, very beautiful birds :)

@benwoodrufffalconry

3 ай бұрын

Yep!!! You got it right

I have a pair of Red-shoulders that nest over the creek behind our house every year and hunt the area year-round. If you ever decide to grab an Oregon trapping permit and come get one, they're always around.

7:55 in neither of the two most recent phylogenies I can find (Fuchs, Johnson and Mindell 2015 and Wink 2018) does the brown falcon form a clade with the aplomado and New Zealand falcons. The latter doesn't place the second two together either - obviously newer samples and analyses are needed. The brown falcon is an old endemic in Australia (one text that's slipped my reach said about 5 million years, compared to 2 Ma or less for the other the five species, if I recall correctly), doesn't form a clear relationship with other species and is also quite un-falcon-like, with a slow laboured flight, rounder wings and preference for perch hunting, often taking mammals and reptiles.

could we have a video on harpies? (literally my fav) I would really Really like to know the actual taxonomy for them but all I can find for sure is that are members of Accipitridae

@chimpz_ahoy1502

3 ай бұрын

They're part of the Subfamily Harpiinae which includes the Bat Hawk, New Guinea Eagle, and the Crested Eagle

I have a pair of red shouldered hawks in the woods next to the house. I often see them soaring, perched on the tree line checking out me and the chickens and I’ve seen one take a squirrel on the ground. They are so cool to watch and after doing research in Falconry over the last month and studying my apprentice guide/handbook I think they have the potential for use in squirrel hunting here in upstate South Carolina, idk. I see the argument for “why use this bird when a red tailed hawk can do it just fine, but I think there’s merit in trying new things, and I wonder what the red shoulder’s potential could be pushed to in falconry.

Have you ever addressed the huge range of redtail morphs? If not that'd be super interesting.

@benwoodrufffalconry

3 ай бұрын

I haven’t. Let me think about the best way to go about it. I’d like to cover recognized subspecies as well as unnamed color morphs

There is a little colony of Grey Hawks in the Harlingen, La Feria Texas area. They are becoming a regular sight. Really thinking about flying a Red Shouldered.

The weirdos👍😂cool stuff hope you have a great week ✌️

@benwoodrufffalconry

3 ай бұрын

Thanks! You too!

Imma get another white-tail kite, I refuse to believe a kestrel can out perform them.

Great video as usual. Why doesn’t anybody fly Bonelli’s eagles here in the US? They look good on paper.

A female red shouldered hawk winters in our neighborhood central Cooper's nesting area in Central Michigan while the Cooper's pair are securing the borders of their territory. Much like they do, she stalks the bird feeders, but not for the same reason! She's after woodcocks and fox squirrels! Gamebird sized birds and squirrels! (I actually accidentally dumped her down out of a tree while filling a bird feeder on top of myself, didn't see she was there!) She does very well for herself on "large" game and I don't know why they couldn't be flown at all. She IS very agile, and seems to have superior stamina to a typical buteo. I'm just a coincidental birder and raptor lover, but she looks like a prize hunter to me!

@shae899

3 ай бұрын

(not that our resident female Cooper's isn't so big that she doesn't also take gamebirds and fox squirrels. One of her daughters a few years back was so large she could carry and gain lift with a fox squirrel. She caught one midair her first day out of the nest- Well-out of the nest tree.)

👍🏻

I think ive seen a Red Shouldered around here (NH) but i could be confused with a young coopers hawk

I'm from Ga and Red Shoulders are everywhere in my town. I'm thinking hard about flying one, but I'm still debating on what to go after with them. Any suggestions to help get me started?

@shae899

3 ай бұрын

Our wild red shouldered visitors love squirrels of any size range! (Well not the ground squirrels)

@beararmory1665

3 ай бұрын

Squirrels squirrels and more squirrels.

How would you feel about flying a bird like a zone-tailed hawk, if given the opportunity? I’ve never heard of anyone flying one, and I believe part of that is that they are just so unpredictable in their range. I wondered how their hunting strategy of mimicking vultures would clash with falconry. They are also very adaptable, hunting everything from rodents, to birds, to reptiles. There are even reports of them trying to catch fish. They are some of my favorite birds. I saw my first pair this year in central Texas, after maybe two years of putting binoculars on every turkey vulture I see..

Sir, please make a video on this topic .... I am having a female bonellis eagle (age 2 years). It works with me and hunts throughout the year except February to April or May (she becomes hormonal) . Yes, I know that during this time of the year she is hormonal and moulting and I also know that during this time of the year birds should be allowed to moult. But if I want her to work and hunt with me then how will I do that? During this hormonal season she absolutely lags motivation to hunt. Even I tried to motivate her by reducing her weight to significant amount from her actual flying weight and also tried by increasing the weight. But I failed. So sir please help us by making a video on how to control this hormonal behaviour and how to keep raptors motivated to hunt during this period of the year .

Have you ever worked with a Kara Kara?

I just wonder if anyone have tried falconry with the Ayres Hawk eagle ? it´s a small african eagle hunting birds on the wings like a falcon.

I don’t know if this fits into the “weirdo’s” category but does the Harrier make for a falconry bird and have you ever talked about them?

@barnabas111

3 ай бұрын

Ben has a whole video about the Harrier. Excellent.

Since when is a goshawk and bueto, it's an accipiter