Generally, ones introduction to raptorial birds is in the negative vein. Chicken Hawk, Buzzard, Butcherbird, Shite-hawk, Carrion Crow, Quail Hawk, etc., all derogatory titles to describe members of this group of avian predators. Farmers wrongly believe they choose to primarily prey on their poultry; sport hunters promote the false premise that they significantly reduce the populations of those small game species (quail, rabbits, etc.) they seek to shoot themselves; and children are taught animals that kill other animals are in some sense, “bad” (of course, exempting we humans).
Red-tailed Hawk (“Chicken Hawk”)
When I was a child my Dad identified American kestrels (sparrow hawks) as “Butcherbirds,” confusing their predatory activity with the shrike ( a passerine bird that impales its insect and small rodent prey on thorns or barbed wire fences because it has no grasping talons to hold it while it feeds.) The kestrel’s practice of hovering in place…
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