Folks -- Yesterday I spent time observing a common black hawk that has taken up seasonal residence in Sonoma County CA. This bird seems to prey primarily on crayfish, and I found perch trees with large numbers of crayfish remains on the ground below, along with defecations and molted common black hawk feathers. This matches the same pattern I found last year with this same bird. (A recent issue of North American Birds, a magazine of the American Birding Association contained a photo I took of the common black hawk soaring with a local red-shouldered hawk).
However, yesterday I checked an area on the same property, but in a different area than that utilized by the black hawk this year. I found crayfish remains under one oak tree, but I did not find any defecations or molted hawk feathers below. I did find a lot of wild turkey feathers, and the turkeys may be using this as a roost tree and perhaps as a feeding area. I did a web search of wild turkey food habits and see that they are omnivores and can consume a wide range of plants and invertebrate animals. But I saw no mention of crayfish in particular. Crayfish are abundant in the area of the Laguna de Santa Rosa, where the common black hawk resides, and I sometimes see live crayfish crawling on the vegetation. Is it likely that wild turkeys exploit this food resource? Thanks for any helpful observations. Stan Moore San Geronimo, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
