Dan does an excellent job of describing the state of Red-shouldered Hawks
in our area.  I have one comment and an additional observation.

First changes in animal behavior over a short time frame are generally
called habituation to distinguish it from the keyhole of
genetic/evolutionary adaptation.  I don't know if it is all that important
make a distinction between changes in behavior from physiological changes
due to genetics, but I find it useful.

In comparison to the rest of the NE Ohio NW Geauga County and southern Lake
County have an abundance of unfragmented forest.  Plots of 400 to several
thousand acres, which include old growth areas, where the predominant
canopy is made up of trees 200 years or older.  Having spent considerable
time in these forests, it is my observation that while Barred Owls are
abundant in the deep woods, Red-Shouldered Hawks are far less so.  I find
Red-shoulders nearer to the edges, but far less often in the deep woods.
This seems to fit the observations of others on this thread who find
Red-shouldered Hawks in more sub urban settings. This would be similar
habitat to the Cooper's Hawk but since these species prefer different food
resources they can coexist in the same niche.

Haans

On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 8:23 PM, Dan Best <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Based on my observations and anecdotes (which, as a park naturalist,
> enrich my perspective of nature), I have this to offer regarding
> red-shouldered hawks (RSH's):
>
> * They have become more common in the last decade or so with the
> maturation of reforested farmland in semi-rural and suburban areas, at
> least in Geauga County and elsewhere in Ohio I presume.  Local Christmas
> Bird Count RSH numbers have attained those of the ubiquitous red-tailed
> hawk in recent years here, in Geauga County anyway.
> * There seems to be a comparable population increase for RSH's nocturnal
> counterpart the barred owl which works the same habitat and wide-ranging
> predatory ecological niche.  I contend that every RSH seen in daytime has
> an after-dark avatar.
> * Have become a backyard nesters in wooded residential neighborhoods where
> young perch on the top beam of wooden swing sets and call to parents for
> food, their plaintive "feed me" whines becoming annoying to suburbanites.
> * Dig hibernating wood frogs out of their shallow winter graves to eat in
> late autumn.
> * Make great use of roadside utility wires to "survey and prey", pouncing
> on voles, frogs, snakes, locusts, etc.
> * Commonly end up as great horned owl prey.  I have several bags of
> plucked RSH feathers to prove the point.
> * Commonly have nests pillaged by crows in said wooded residential areas.
> * Submit to hawk-feeding humans by accepting offerings of raw chicken and
> left-over salmon left out for them.
> * Rusty breast feathers fluffed to loft heat-trapping down has gotten them
> compared to golden retrievers inviting a desire to pet.
>
> That said, I rank RSH's in with barred owls, gray squirrels, flying
> squirrels, pileated woodpeckers as mature woodland wildlife that  have
> adapted to increasing and ever-maturing, yet fragmented (re)forests to
> become increasingly familiar wildlife in recent years.   Thus, they join
> the red fox, coyote, mink, red-tailed hawk, Coopers hawk, bald eagle,
> osprey, great blue heron, etc. as predators that have turned the
> evolutionary corner to succeed as "beasts of the 'burbs" adapting, along
> with their prey base,  to the commotions and alterations of the humanized
> landscape.  As nearly top-o'-the-food-chain predators that rely on
> well-honed hunting skills for survival , RSH's, however catholic in their
> appetites, are subject to the tough ecological edicts carnivores are
> subjected to making it unlikely that they reach such nuisance numbers as
> Canada geese, raccoons, deer, woodchucks, ring-billed gulls, etc.
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 28, 2012, at 9:27 AM, Bill Whan wrote:
>
> > Scott--
> >       NE Ohio red-shouldereds have suffered less than those in other
> areas
> > from habitat destruction, shooting, etc. Back in 1903 Dawson regarded
> > this species as second only to the kestrel in Ohio numbers.
> > In 1902/3 the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology studied and
> > collected these hawks here in Columbus's Clintonville neighborhood,
> > which at the time was pretty much still countryside, but they remain
> > over a century later, when dense housing predominates here (my
> > neighborhood was built up in the '20s).
> >       The closest nest is reused yearly; our neighborhood is dissected by
> > ravines with dense growths of mature hardwoods, and this nest is over 30
> > feet up in a big oak growing 15 feet from a house on the edge of one of
> > these ravines, which has constant water flow. The birds are often heard
> > calling in spring, and through the warm months have a habit of soaring
> > high over the neighborhood in sunny afternoons. For a scientific study
> > of urban Ohio red-shoulders, I recommend the work of some
> > Cincinnati-area researchers: Dykstra, C.R., J.L. Hays, F.B. Daniel, and
> > M. M. Simon. 2000. Nest site selection and productivity of suburban
> > Red-shouldered Hawks in southern Ohio. Condor 102(2):401-408, online at
> >
> > http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Condor/files/issues/v102n02/p0401-p0408.pdf
> > .
> > Bill Whan
> > Columbus
> >
> >
> >
> > On 12/27/2012 7:38 PM, Scott Gregg wrote:
> >> Scott Gregg
> >> Beaver Falls, PA
> >>
> >> I've noticed over about a 15 year period of on-again, off-again
> observations
> >> that the Youngstown/Warren area supports a pretty substantial
> red-shouldered
> >> population.  I have both seen and heard birds almost every time I'm in
> that
> >> area. They seem to be non-migratory.  In my area, Beaver County PA, they
> >> nest in pockets in suburban areas.  One nest I observed for a couple
> years
> >> was in an oak on a limb that grew over a roof.  Most field guides list
> this
> >> bird as a bird of the deep woods.
> >>
> >
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