Eat it? Just a wild guess. Before they do this though, they catch it with their talons.

Eat it.

1) "To stay alive, the hawk has to find the prey, catch it, and defend it from other hawks long enough to make it a meal." Source and further information: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-red_tailed_hawk.html 2) "Hawks kill their prey with their powerful claws, but falcons kill by biting the head or neck of their prey." Source: http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=1009 3) "When prey is sighted, they make a rapid dash after it. If the intended prey is not caught quickly, the pursuit is dropped after a short distance. When the hawks do get close, they reach out with their long legs and grab the animal with powerful, taloned feet. Goshawks have tremendously strong feet and legs and are capable of subduing large prey, such as snowshoe hares, grouse, ptarmigan, and ducks. They also eat squirrels, voles, shrews, and some of the larger songbirds and shorebirds. In contrast, the more maneuverable sharp-shinned hawks have proportionally longer, narrower toes and are more efficient at capturing songbirds. Sharp-shins also eat a few small mammals and occasionally catch large insects." Source: http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/notebook/bird/accipitr.php