The Red-tailed Hawk is widespread in North America — which doesn’t mean that it is an everyday sighting anywhere. Indeed, along the West Arm lakeshore of Kootenay Lake, I don’t often see it except in March and April. These are the months that melting snows at the valley bottom begin to expose one of its favourite foods: voles. During the summer months, these hawks more commonly hunt higher in the mountains.
Nevertheless, a sighting of a Red-tailed Hawk hunting in the valley bottom in mid-February is not far-off its behavioural pattern.
A Red-tailed Hawk looks down on a snow-covered field in Harrop. Maybe in a week, snow will recede and hunting will improve.
Having found nothing at one location, it flies off to look for prey elsewhere.
