Hello Jared, I think the fact that Red-taileds have bigger feet than Swainson's causes them to prefer a larger perch. I have seen Red-tailed's on wires, but not often. This is pure speculation, but perhaps the Cooper's prefer the towers because they provide lower perch points that give the birds a quicker path to their next meal. Kevin Corwin west Centennial, Arapahoe County
On Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 4:17:08 PM UTC-6, Jared Del Rosso wrote: > > I have a view of transmission towers & lines from my yard in Centennial > (Arapahoe County). Only a birder would think that an asset. I have regular > sightings of Red-tails and occasional Cooper's Hawk sightings. on the > towers The towers have also yielded me a Peregrine Falcon Sighting. Merlins > and Kestrels are occasional users of it as well. > > The Red-tails only perch on the towers, not the actual lines. (Cooper's > seem to prefer the towers too; though uncommon in my immediate > neighborhood, Kestrels can be found on both.) You can tell the Swainson's > Hawks are back, because you'll see them on both. The Red-tails appear out > (at least over the past few days) earlier in the day. The Swainson's appear > out in the mid-to-late afternoon. > > Can anyone think of reasons for these differences, or should I chalk it up > to the selective and non-systematic nature of my observations? > > - Jared Del Rosso, apparently missing all the Broad-wings... > Centennial, CO > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/d1c9a284-7712-4b19-b271-2f04f35f8013%40googlegroups.com.
