Dead Shredded Red

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
On Tuesday after work I was running the dog in the woods across the street. Murph was ranging a little bit and I gave him a yell to turn him back to me. As he turned, a red tailed hawk swooped down out of a tree and flew low to the across the fire cut that we were on and disappeared to my right. We continued along the cut and when I reached the spot where the hawk flew out of the tree, I saw feathers everywhere. It was a dead red tailed hawk and it had been shredded. The head was completely gone and not in the scattered mess.

I never thought red tailed hawks would attack there own species but I still don't know if the hawk that took flight was the culprit. We do have a lot of owls but bot sure if they would take on a red tailed hawk.

On Wednesday after work the carcass was in the same position I left it on Tuesday but on Thursday it was scattered more than on Tuesday. I should have put my game camera out Tuesday night to see what would return but I didn't.
Interesting.

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Rooftree

Explorer
Mar 24, 2017
330
580
78
Haddon Township
Scott; looking at Google, a great horned owl have been known to kill red-tailed hawks. Back in February, as I was exploring the Sykes Branch near Coyle Field (this was in the area where we crossed the Sykes Branch in our recent PBX Trip) I found three headless pheasants, two on the ground and one in a tree branch. All at the same spot

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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
Scott; looking at Google, a great horned owl have been known to kill red-tailed hawks. Back in February, as I was exploring the Sykes Branch near Coyle Field (this was in the area where we crossed the Sykes Branch in our recent PBX Trip) I found three headless pheasants, two on the ground and one in a tree branch. All at the same spot

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I’m leaning toward the great horned owl Ron. I think the hawk that I spooked may have been mourning the loss.
 

MuckSavage

Explorer
Apr 1, 2005
597
218
56
Turnersville
It's common for Owls to pluck the heads off of Pheasant. My dogs used to bring me a headless Ringneck & would look at me like " Look, I did sumpin' good".
I didn't think an Owl would take on a hawk either but what do I know?
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
Ran Murph tonight and everything but a few feathers were gone. Murph wasn't convinced.
Yesterday morning most of the carcass remnants were still there. Nature's cleanup crews are amazing.
 

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On Tuesday after work I was running the dog in the woods across the street. Murph was ranging a little bit and I gave him a yell to turn him back to me. As he turned, a red tailed hawk swooped down out of a tree and flew low to the across the fire cut that we were on and disappeared to my right. We continued along the cut and when I reached the spot where the hawk flew out of the tree, I saw feathers everywhere. It was a dead red tailed hawk and it had been shredded. The head was completely gone and not in the scattered mess.

I never thought red tailed hawks would attack there own species but I still don't know if the hawk that took flight was the culprit. We do have a lot of owls but bot sure if they would take on a red tailed hawk.

On Wednesday after work the carcass was in the same position I left it on Tuesday but on Thursday it was scattered more than on Tuesday. I should have put my game camera out Tuesday night to see what would return but I didn't.
Interesting.

Do not expand thumbnails if you do not want to see non-living miscellaneous bird parts.

My vote is a great horned owl. We have both species nesting nearby; have seen an owl chase a young redtail at dusk. night shift versus day shift. Why there's no rabbits eating my garden greens.
 
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