The marsh hawk lives in the majority of the United States as well as parts of Europe. The proportions of its wing span and tail feathers are much larger than other American hawks. It also has a peculiar game of sorts that it likes to play by tucking in its wings half way and spiraling downward in a zigzag motion.
The typical menu for a marsh hawk consists of: crickets, small lizards, frogs, snakes, and small birds. Although, they have been known to attack Partridges, Plovers, and even Green-winged Teals when pressed by hunger. The majority of their prey is found on the ground. They very rarely chase other birds in an aerial battle.
While hunting it often follows an irregular flight path with a back and forth sway to its pattern. It is in no way a swift or strong bird, but it is a persistent hunter by means of retracing its previous failed attempts and when an attack does fail, it will hurry back to altitude and carry on its original pattern. The marsh hawk generally hunts near marshes, prairies, and meadows or along the bushy edges of fields. After a potential prey is found, the marsh hawk will poise overhead and drop with remarkable speed down on its victim. If the attempt to catch dinner was a success, it will devour its meal on the spot it was captured. To help digest its meal it either sits on a fence post or other suitable perch, or flying at a very high altitude and in a direct path as if heading to a particular destination.
If a hunter were to sneak up on it while eating, it would be quite easy to do so. Seeing how the hawk would not flee until only a few yards of space were between them. If the marsh hawk were injured somehow, and could not fly, it would attack on ground very fast with its sharp talons. Trying to keep away from a marsh hawk that has its mind on attacking would be quite the chore.
When “migrating”, they tend to travel in groups of about twenty to forty individuals. They are not pressed so much by the changing of the season but more by the prey birds that are migrating in that direction. Once a pair has mated, they will stay with the offspring until the chicks are ready to shift on their own. Although some European writers claim that is not always the case. The females are much larger in size than the males, and after the mating season in autumn they will hunt in packs. Adult males are hardly ever seen in these hunting packs.
All information that has been discussed above was derived from: http://web4.audubon.org/bird/BoA/F2_G11a.html
