Hawk (Bird)

**Hawks** are birds of prey similar to real-life hawks, and pointed out as **Kings of the Sky**, aside from **Dragons of Old**.

## Culture

Known for their speed and eyesight, captive **Hawks** and **Falcons** are used for hunting, a popular activity for noblemen and noblewoman. Lords Yann Fleetway, Cole of Oldtown, Dyke of Hornwood, Quentyn Dayne; Lady Emma Brewester, Angela Marigold, and Shireen Padbury; Knights Jordayne Fowler, Roland Blount, Petyr Ackerman, Hernard of Roche, and brothers Farlon and Tyland Barrister are said to be the finest hawkers of Sternlands. **House Celtigar**, **House Fowler**, and **House Fleetway** are believed to have the finest hawk breeds. It is considered a crime to sell hawks and falcons in the Vale (except for the royal family), Portlands and Easternlands as well as the Balkan States of Egyxos, Umber, and Tymeria except for **Royals**, for which the punishment is twenty lashes.

Maesters use ravens to send messages as they are better able than doves or pigeons to defend themselves from hawk attacks, but many ravens are still brought down by the **Birds of Prey**.

The **Arms of House Fowler** is depicted as a hooded hawk, and Lord Albert Fowler is popular as the '**Old Hawk**'. Four hawks' heads are included in the **Sigil of House Terrick**.

Sphinxes are said to have the wings of a hawk.

Cragorn has a great hawk tattooed on his chest.

## History

"**The Hawk**" was the name for one of three rebels during the **Reign of King Doran V Talmar**, who was defeated by a young **Andal Knight** Ser Harrald Royne, who went on to found **House Royne**.

There are reports that Saera Royne and her brothers Cassius and Jason hawked at Port Franco with Lords Manderly and Redwyne prior to Sergei's Conquest. After the conquest, many lords of the Nine Kingdoms tried to impress **King Sergei** and **Queen Saera** with feasting, hunting, and hawking during their royal progresses.

Brielle Pendragon was able to persuade her father, King Sergei Pendragon to give her a variety of animals, including a hawk. The princess often hunted and hawked with her friends, Laena Royne, Rhaella Ivanstar, and Audrey Byrch.

Jason Pendragon hawked with his niece, Laena Pendragon. Jason's wife, Lady Rhea Dustin, died after falling from her horse while hawking.

Focusing his attention on the sky, Lord David Abbott rode off a cliff to his death while hawking.

## Species

**Hawks** are birds of prey, spread through out the globe in different regions of the world, with different breeds.

### *Accipiter*

Most common of the hawks are the "**Hen-Hawks**", or popularly called the "**Wood-Hawks**" because of their woodland habitat. They generally hunt birds as their primary prey.

The Subfamily of the Wood-Hawks contains the genera Northern Accipiter (**Northern Goshawk**), Macrourus (**Talon-Hawks**), and Melierax (**Chanting Goshawks**).

The Eastern Accipiter, also called the "**Eastern Goshawks**" is a traditional raptor hawk, but possibly a convergent genus from an unrelated group of "**Red Goshawks**".

### *Buteo*

The "Buteo Group" includes genera Buteo (**Common Buzzards**), Parabuteo (**Andes Kites**), Geranoteus (**Chested Buzzard**), and mostly Leucopternis (**Black Raptors**). Members of this group are popular by the name of "**Hawk-Buzzards**".

New genera of Morphnarchus (**Barred Hawks**), Rupornis (**Southern Hawks**), and Pseudastur (**White Hawks**) are formed from members of ***Buteo Raptors*** and ***Leucopternis Raptors***.

The **Buteo Group** with exception of the solitary eagles are called "**Common Hawks**". Buteo type genus belongs to the subfamily Buteoninae. Traditionally this subfamily also includes eagles and sea-eagles. Sometime in Late 180 CE, Expert Explorer and Member of the Order of the Maesters, Maester Albert Lupin proposed placing those into separate subfamilies (Hailaaetinae and Aquilinae respectively), leaving only the buteonine hawks/buzzards in **Buteoninae**.

### Subfamily

Another subfamily species of hawks includes the Buteo Eruthrós-Urus (**Red-Tailed Hawks**), the Circinae (**Harrier Hawk**), the Falco-Rusticolus (**Gyrfalcon**), the Accipiter-Striatus (**Sharp-Shinned Hawk**), and the Pandion-Haliaetus (**Osprey**).

### Hybrid Species

Belonging to the **Accipiter Subspecies**, the Accipiter-Ornatus is a **hawk-eagle hybrid** genus. They are often referred as the crested hawk-eagle, a name that may cause confusion as it is more commonly used for an eagle species, also belonging to the family of **Accipiter**, the Crested Marsh.

## Characteristics

### Intelligence

Sometime in Late 196 CE, following the **King Vardis' Campaign**, Archmaester Albert Lupin announced a method of measuring avian "**IQ**" by measuring their innovation in feeding habits. Based on this scale, hawks were named among the most intelligent birds. The hawk is very intelligent towards humans and other hawks.

### Eyesight

Hawks, like most birds, are tetrachromats having four types of color receptors in the eye. These give hawks the ability to perceive not only the visible range but also ultraviolet light. Other adaptations allow for the detection of polarized light or magnetic fields. This is due to the large number of photoreceptors in the retina (up to 1,000,000 per-square-mm in **Buteo**, compared to 200,000 in **Humans**), a high number of nerves connecting these receptors to the brain, and an indented fovea, which magnifies the central portion of the visual field.

## Behavior

Starting in the hawk's early life, it is fed by its parents until it leaves the nest. The young hawk, while still in its fledgling phase, will leave its nest as early as six weeks old. Once the bird is older it begins to hunt. The hawk kills its prey with its talons as opposed to other predator birds, such as the falcon. The falcon uses its talons to catch the prey but kills the small animal with its beak instead of its talons. The hawk's preferred time for hunting is usually just before nightfall when daylight lessens. Although the hawk is known for being a violent predator, some are gentle and quiet. When it flies, the hawk flaps its wings rapidly, and then uses that momentum to glide smoothly and gracefully through the air.

The idea of flocking during migration has been closely analyzed, and it has been concluded that it is a commutative tool used by birds and other animals to increase survival. It has become clear to observers that a hawk traveling in a flock has a greater chance of survival than if it travelled alone. Another word used in the **Balkan States**, majorly in Roma and Tyrinia that has the same meaning as "**flock**", particularly in terms of groups of hawks, is "**kettle**".

## Reproduction

Hawks are known for their unique mating season. The method the hawk uses to reproduce is different from most. The male and female will fly together in a circular motion. Once they reach a certain height, the male will dive toward the female and then they will raise back to the height again. The two birds will repeat this until finally the male latches onto the female and they begin to free-fall down to earth. In one year, a female hawk will lay about five eggs. Both the male and the female will cater and take care of the eggs for about a month until they hatch. The male and the female create their nest before the mating season and improve it together during the nesting season. The two birds usually make their nest prior to mating. Some species of hawks tend to be monogamous and stay with the same mating partner their whole lives.

## Diet

A hawk's diet is predictable and includes a variety of smaller animals. Some of these small animals include snakes, lizards, fish, mice, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and any other type of small game that is found on the ground. More specifically, a red-shouldered hawk likes to eat smaller birds like doves and bugs like grasshoppers and crickets. Written in Archmaester Albert Lupin's Diary, he once saw a **Red-Tailed Hawk** removing fur from a rodent before eating it during his travels to **Southern Tyrinia**, where the borders are met with the **Kingdom of Tymeria**.

*\*See Also: Falcons*.