Journaling Question: Hawks Why don't hawks gain and lose weight the way songbirds do while migrating? Falcon Most hawks catch their prey on the wing. Accipiters and falcons,--bird eating hawks like the Sharp-shinned Hawk and Merlin--fly about much of the day whether or not they're migrating. On non-migrating days they may fly many miles just going back and forth patrolling their woods trying to catch birds. When they're migrating, they're doing pretty much the same thing, only flying in a particular direction. So no matter whether they're migrating or not, they try to keep their bodies well-fueled and in top condition. Buteo hawks like the Red-tailed Hawk migrate on days when thermal air currents or updrafts will hold them high in the air without much flapping, so they conserve energy by flying high on a thermal, then cruising forward with wings set while searching out the next thermal. They can sometimes go over a mile without flapping once, so they don't need to build up a lot of fat either. Some migrating songbirds, such as swallows, also stay on the wing much of the day to find food. One ornithologist followed a Barn Swallow's day-to-day movements to calculate that it flew about 600 miles every day just going back and forth catching insects! But most songbirds simply flit from branch to branch like warblers, or spend most of their time running and resting like robins, and don't use up nearly as much energy in their everyday activities as they do when migrating. When these birds are flying hundreds of miles without rest during migration, they need an added fuel supply which they get from storing fat. When they migrate long distances, their bodies burn this fat. Copyright 2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form