The usual songbirds at the feeders and on the ground. They are often seen perching in trees or atop telephone poles, staring at the ground watching for prey. Next time a red-tailed hawk is sitting and waiting quietly on a post near your building, look for a nearby bird feeder. For the length of a large house the young hawk hops and wobbles with its wings spread wide, then vanishes over an outcrop of basalt, and when I go looking, is gone. What does it mean when a hawk comes to you? It also sits with its beak open. A few minutes later it is back doing the same things. Is it sick? I do not feed the birds, and I do not know where the hawk nest is, but I sure wish they would move on. These hawks are often seen perched in trees along roadsides. But at the opposite side of the Habitat, an immature red-shouldered hawk is on the ground. That’s one reason they don’t get shocked when they sit on electrical wires. Why did the Red-tailed Hawk stand in the road? Back on the log I sit trying to figure it all out. I thought it was injured possibly but after a few minutes it propped up and flew away. I loved this bird and, as I so often do, learned a lot from your post and from the wonderful comments. Hawk - Messenger from the spirit world, stopper of time. Surely the young bird had been hunting. There’s another reason why birds can sit on a wire without getting shocked. Most nests are located on or near the ground in hollows, nooks and crannies, climbing plants, hedgebanks, tree roots, piles of logs and any other situations which provide a fully concealed cavity. I am sick of the noise, and finding feathers on the ground every time I go into the backyard. The energy bypasses the birds and keeps flowing along the wire instead. There’s no voltage difference in a single wire. If you see a hawk, look around, there is a message for you in what is also going on around you. It will allow me to go withinin four feet of it and then gets up and hops away, but never flies away. Why? Birds are not good conductors. Buteos like the red-tailed hawk will soar on thermals to search for small mammals or they will sit in a tree and watch for movement on the ground. Lab bird feeders: instant meal for a hawk . A male blackbird sits on the earth of my flower bed like a nesting chicken. I few days ago a red tail hawk landed within 5 feet of where I was standing and it laid down with its wings spread out. It was waiting for the chicken. Red-tailed hawks spend much time hunting, and do so in two different ways: by soaring on thermal updrafts with eyes on the ground and by sitting on tall trees, waiting for prey to come by. Different hawks use different hunting tactics- depending on the their habitat and prey that is available.