Something I haven't seen before - hawk eating earthworms

Tom K · Jan 13, 2023

We've had a hawk hanging around our back yard for a while. I had stepped outside and saw him standing on the ground, so I went back inside and got my camera. I noticed him pecking at the ground and as I got closer and zoomed in, I could see that he was eating earthworms! Doing some googling afterwards, I found that this is not unusual, particularly for red-shouldered hawks.

He stayed in the same spot for quite a while, picking a worm up at the rate of several per minute. Now and then he would stamp with one foot, perhaps to move the grass or get the worms to react. I gradually made my way down the paver path, eventually getting to within fifteen feet or so and then on my belly.

*edit* Link to YouTube video added in Post #16.

Tom K · Jan 13, 2023

Eventually he took off and landed in a nearby tree. I went back up to the house and after a little bit he landed back on the ground and resumed his meal.

grover99 · Jan 13, 2023

Maybe he can't afford his regular food like the rest of us

LVSteve · Jan 13, 2023

grover99 said:
Maybe he can't afford his regular food like the rest of us

I think you just won the Internet for a day.

krsmith58 · Jan 13, 2023

Great pics. thanks for sharing.

got any pics of you crawling on the ground to get the pics. i would like to see that.

just funning you. thanks again. krs/kenny

swsig · Jan 13, 2023

That's quite the early bird.

BSA1 · Jan 13, 2023

Interesting but they are meat eaters aren’t they?

Here they are commonly seen sitting on fence, sign and telephone poles. Based on how many I regularly seen here there must be plenty of field mice and snakes.

S&W ucla · Jan 13, 2023

Great Pics! While the early bird may get the worm, the early worm gets eat by the bird!

woodsltc · Jan 13, 2023

Here is a good explanation........ie, check the food description for the Broad-winged Hawk:

Don

Broad-winged Hawk Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

LVSteve · Jan 13, 2023

BSA1 said:
Interesting but they are meat eaters aren’t they?

Earthworms are meat...just meat most of us don't want to eat.

Fishinfool · Jan 13, 2023

Nice pics Tom. I have never seen a hawk eating worms. I was lucky enough to get this pic of a Red Tail hawk swooping down and taking a rabbit along side a back road while I was driving by.

Larry

444 Magnum · Jan 13, 2023

LVSteve said:
Earthworms are meat...just meat most of us don't want to eat.

Ask Bryant Gumbel. He had some fried worms on the Today show. IIRC, he feigned "appetizing".

My friend and I bush hogged a vacant lot two weeks ago. Mice were running everywhere and owls were catching them in the daytime. It surprised me to see them out mid-morning. Even a cat ran through the lot and grabbed one. The temptation of an easy meal was such that neither the owls or the cat feared the tractor or me. I wish I had gotten a picture of the owls at work, but I was too shocked.

The OP has been educational. I've never seen birds of prey digging worms. I wonder why there were so many in one spot?

I remember my grandmother telling me about grubbing for worms as a child. They would pound a stake in the ground and beat on it. Apparently, the vibration would drive the night crawlers out of their tunnels. She said they were as much as a foot long. Obviously, they used them for bait, not food. I've never had any success at it.

She's gone now but I think about her often. A humble, uneducated woman with a lot of common sense. She grew up poor and lived modestly all her life. Her husband died in 1967. She made a living as a school cafeteria worker. When she passed some 40 years later, she had $90k tucked away in a bank account for her children. She fried chicken in bacon fat and could skin a squirrel faster than anyone I ever saw.

Sorry for rambling.

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for posting.

Jon42 · Jan 13, 2023

I've seen lots of coyotes, hawks and crows around when hay is being cut. It's an easy meal. Sad when a fawn get's run over by a cutter.

Rustyt1953 · Jan 13, 2023

When I saw the title I thought "wow! I've never seen an earthworm eat a hawk".

30-30remchester · Jan 13, 2023

I live in the country and have no neighbors or curtains. It is always interesting watching wildlife. Have seen a squirrel eat a chunk of ham and deer eat chicken bones. Watched a Steller Jay mercilessly attack and commit wholesale murder on a field mouse. Now that there are cameras everywhere weird stuff is happening. Online you can watch an elk chase down a gosling and eat it. Also, you can watch another elk and a mule deer eating cottontail rabbits. The oddest lately was watching a bald eagle drown a deer.

Tom K · Jan 13, 2023

I also shot some video, and have uploaded it to YouTube. In September 2022 we had some Bermuda grass sod installed in our back yard in NE Oklahoma. After the scene fade at about the 0:30 mark, you can see the ground moving. I think there may have been a mole under the sod, and that the earthworms were moving away from it to the surface allowing the hawk easy pickin's.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h79abaNMb9w[/ame]

Kenna · Jan 13, 2023

That was interesting to see,ground moving below hawk then dinner time. Thanks for the video.

islamoradamark · Jan 13, 2023

great pictures thank you

pharmer · Jan 13, 2023

That bird is eating good, plump. The Red Tails around here get squirrel snacks all year round, hooray. Joe

Golddollar · Jan 13, 2023

Predators of any persuasion have an instinct to pack in the most calories with the least expenditure of energy. That hawk learned to find a food source that would come to it rather than having to fly around looking for something to eat.

Something I haven't seen before - hawk eating earthworms

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