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Animals
Matt Mikus

Traffic-spotter hawk caught on MnDOT highway camera

A hawk looks at a camera as cars pass in the background
A red-tailed hawk is caught on a traffic camera on Nov. 12.
Courtesy of Minnesota Department of Transportation via X

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A wide-eyed red-tailed hawk was caught by a Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic camera — and it looked almost as shocked to see the camera as we are to see it.

MnDOT shared the video clip, captured on Nov. 12 at 4:45 p.m., from the traffic camera looking at Interstate 94 near Portland Avenue in Minneapolis.

The raptor appears to look directly towards the traffic camera as cars pass by on their morning commute.

MnDOT spokesperson Christina Joyce said the bird perched there for about three minutes after being spotted.

“It’s just a random thing our Regional Transportation Management Center team happened to see,” Joyce said.

DNR ornithologists confirmed with MPR News that the bird on camera is a red-tailed hawk.

Lori Naumann with the DNR Non-Game program said these large raptors are often seen perched high on traffic lights throughout the Twin Cities metro area.

“They are hunting small rodents found in roadside ditches,” Naumann told MPR News. “They are primarily mammal hunters, but other small birds and reptiles make up a portion of their diet.”

Red-tailed hawks are common across the country, according to The University of Minnesota Raptor Center website. The red-tailed hawk’s range is throughout the Northern American continent, from central Alaska through Canada, and south through Mexico and into Central America.

Many northern birds move south for the winter, but some red-tailed hawks will stay in Minnesota year round.