North America is home to about 2.5 million red-tailed hawks, and one of them in Tennessee is changing how scientists think, thanks to her rare survival story.
Angel, the red-tailed hawk, has a condition called leucistic, similar to being albino. Unlike an albino animal who loses all of its pigmentation, leucism causes the partial loss of different kinds of pigmentation, including carotenoids. Either way, scientists say both conditions lower survival rates.
“Back in the early 2000s, scientists and conservation biologists would say that leucistic and albino animals cannot exist in the wild.” Window to Wildlife’s Connor O’Brien said. “It would be very rare for them to survive.”
O’Brien, a project manager and biologist installed a camera on Angel’s nest says her coloring makes it harder to hunt prey.
“Having no camo is just really bad, but she has been able to figure out how to hunt even though it’s a bit easier for prey to see her coming,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien believes Angel is thriving against all odds is mainly because of love.
“She’s had to rely more on her mate to help with that, especially during the nesting season,” O’Brien said, talking about Angel’s mate, Tom. “Tom has become an excellent hunter; he catches significantly more than she does.”
Tom’s presence makes Angel’s life easier, O’Brien said, protecting her from intruders in the nest.
“We have a lot of blue jays that harass red-tailed hawks, specifically Angel, when she’s in the nest,” O’Brien said. “Last season, every 10 seconds, blue jays would hit Angel’s head all day, but when Tom gets in the nest, the blue jays just leave them alone.”
O’Brien said that scientists are shifting how they think about leucistic birds now that love has prevailed in this unique story.
“Scientists don’t think they can mate with their own species because species can’t identify them,” O’Brien said. “So Angel is shifting that narrative and giving us new data on leucism.”
In the last few years, Angel has produced four offspring, marking a love story that defies the odds.