A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. Its predators include birds. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

They eat a variety of prey, including small mammals, birds, snakes, lizards, fish, crayfish, insects and worms, according to the California Raptor Center (CRC), a research center that's part of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

The CRC studies raptors and their biology, physiology, and ecology. The center also provides educational programs and foster care for raptors.

But back to red-shouldered hawks.

We saw a red-shouldered hawk, Buteo lineatus (as identified by William Ferrier, retired CRC director) swoop down in the courtyard of the Vacaville Museum Sunday afternoon and grab an insect.

The hawk then perched on a nearby telephone line and ate its prey. The insect appeared to be a praying mantis or a katydid.

Was the insect just a mere appetizer for the full Sunday spread to come?

Possibly!

That said, be sure to see the “A Bird's Eye View" ceramic-mosaic mural that graces an outer wall of the CRC. It tells the story of the interdependence of raptors and insects, ranging from a golden eagle, great-horned owl and a red-tailed hawk to a clear-winged grasshopper, fiery skipper butterfly and figeater beetle.

The mural, installed in December 2023, is primarily the work of 80 UC Davis students in Entomology 001, “Art, Science and the World of Insects,” taught by UC Davis distinguished professor-artist (now emerita) Diane Ullman of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.  Ullman and colleague Gale Okumura, a Department of Design emerita lecturer, led the project. Other faculty, CRC volunteers and staff, and  members of the community, also contributed to the 3000-hour project.

The mural measures 22-feet wide and 8-feet in height and is comprised of more than 1300 handmade ceramic relief artworks, tiles and trim pieces. “The mural celebrates 11 key raptor species found in California and 84 insect species that are either parasites of these raptors or eaten by them,” said Ullman, an entomologist-artist who co-founded the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion Program. “The interdependence of birds and insects is striking in food chains around the globe. As insects decline, bird populations are also damaged. When birds decline, some insect populations surge and can rise to damaging levels.”  (See feature story on the mural)

Meanwhile, the score at the Vacaville Museum Courtyard Sunday:

Hawk, 1; Insect, 0. 

Only the red-shouldered hawk got "A Bird's Eye View."