The red-tailed hawk’s bright tail feathers make this one of the easier to identify hawks in North America. It has broad wings and it will fly in slow circles. Even the largest red-tail weighs only three pounds; a dog of similar size would weigh close to 30 pounds.
Show an object approximately 17” – 22” tall and then hold your arms out to the side approximately 45” – 52”, which is the wingspan of a red tail. Pass around a 2.5 pound weight for the children to feel the weight of the bird and get an appreciation for the relative light weight of an animal that is this size.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds site has video of the bird in flight as well as recordings of the bird’s distinctive call.
Observation Activities
Hawks have keen eyesight. They can see prey 10,000 or more feet away from where they are flying. Even while the bird is in a dive, it stays focused on its prey.
Hawk Eyes – Stand up in front of the children and tell them that you will be testing their hawk eyes. Ask them to pay attention to your appearance. Then, step out of their view and change five things about your appearance (remove a piece of jewelry, pull your hair into a ponytail, untie a shoelace, etc) and then return so the children can name the changes.
Binoculars – Have the children create fingertip binoculars by curling their fingers toward their thumbs. Then, they hold their binoculars up to their eyes. Have the children look around the room, noticing how their sight is more focused when they aren’t looking at the entire room.
You can also make cardboard tube binoculars by taping or stapling together two tubes found within toilet tissue. Give each child a set. Hide a toy mouse in the room or play area and have the children look for it using their binocular vision – either fingertip binoculars or cardboard tube binoculars.
Movement and Music Games
Kettle of Hawks – Red-tailed hawks are not fast-moving birds. Put on some slow-paced music, perhaps an instrumental Celtic piece, and have the children move in circle, slowly beating their arms like wings. The children can try moving on tiptoe and then while squatting. A group of hawks flying like this are called a kettle of hawks because they resemble the boiling bubbles in a kettles. You can place bottle caps or mice-shaped pieces of felt on the ground for the children to swoop down on and pick up.
Hawk & Crow – Play a game of “Red light, green light” only call it “Hawk and Crow.” “It,” a mouse, stands apart from the group with her back to them. When It calls out “hawk” and looks away from the group, the children are hawks holding their arms out to their sides while slowly walking forward toward the mouse.
When It spins around and says “crow” the children stop and flap their arms up and down. Any children who step forward while It/the mouse is looking at them must return to the starting point. The player who, as a hawk, tags the mouse then becomes the new mouse.
These games and activities will teach children about some of the characteristics and behaviors of a common North American bird, the red-tailed hawk. Post pictures near the doorway where the children get picked up at the end of the day so the parents will become familiar with this bird and point it out to their children when they spot one along the highway.
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