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Adaptation of Hawks Into the City

Some city dwellers are surprised to see a flock of pigeons scattered by a hawk's sudden torpedo plunge -- or to see a pair of hawks tending to their young at some skyscraper aerie. But these bustling, paved jungles are just another productive habitat to some birds of prey, which sometimes thrive in greater numbers than outside the city bounds.

Opportunism
- The adaptable red-tailed hawk is a common urban predator.
  
  Those hawk species that are, by nature, particularly opportunistic -- like red-tailed hawks -- are more likely to adopt city habitats. Other species, like the big ferruginous hawks of western grasslands, are less inclined toward urban development.
Habitat
- To opportunistic hawks, city buildings and parkways serve as surrogates for the wild habitats they evolved in.
  
  Urban hawks adapt to the available landscapes of urban environments. For example, red-tailed hawks as readily nest in the window nooks of high-rise buildings as cliff-faces. Forest-adapted bird-hunters like sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks take advantage of city parks and streetside trees as hunting perches.
Prey
- Pigeons are common targets of urban raptors like red-tailed and Cooper's hawks.
  
  Prey is not tough to come by for urban hawks with flexible diets. Red-tailed hawks, which are generalist predators of small animals, find rich pickings even in the heart of big cities: Pigeons, doves, sparrows, squirrels, rats, domestic animals and other critters are in ready supply.

Nature