![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/red-tailed-hawk-4266-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-4266-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nRed-tailed Hawks are known to prey on snakes and they don’t necessarily\u00a0exclude the venomous species as menu choices.<\/p>\n
However I’ve only seen the behavior three times so I have to wonder just how common it is. Once all I saw was a Red-tail carrying a snake in flight high over my head in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains but both of the other times I was able to photograph the hawk on a power pole with the snake.<\/p>\n
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1\/1000, f\/7.1, ISO 320, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n In this instance, documented in Montana’s Centennial Valley on 6\/24\/16, the snake was already headless and “dead” before I found the hawk. I put “dead” in quotes for good reason and if you didn’t see that\u00a0hilarious post (it’s\u00a0funny to me at least)\u00a0when I published it you can follow this link<\/a> to see the unpleasant surprise that awaited the hawk (and me). I have to wonder if this bird ever\u00a0tackled a snake again…<\/p>\n In order of significance Cornell’s Birds of North America Online lists snakes as Red-tailed Hawk prey immediately\u00a0after rodents, rabbits and birds which seems to imply that it’s fairly common for Red-tails to take them. And BNA lists bullsnakes (gopher snakes) and rattlesnakes in particular as preferred snake prey.<\/p>\n However, studies suggest that Red-tails take venomous snakes in a smaller proportion compared to\u00a0nonvenemous snakes than are available to them\u00a0in their environment. The following quote from BNA suggests the likely reason for that little discrepancy:<\/p>\n Good reason to avoid\u00a0attempting to make venomous snakes part of your diet, seems to me…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS\u00a0 – Here’s a couple of related links that readers may be interested in:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Red-tailed Hawks are known to prey on snakes and they don’t necessarily exclude the venomous species as menu choices.<\/p>\n\n
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