Red-shouldered Hawk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Red-shouldered hawk)
Jump to: navigation, search
Red-shouldered Hawk
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family: Accipitridae
Subfamily: Buteoninae
Genus: Buteo
Species: B. lineatus
Binomial name
Buteo lineatus
(Gmelin, 1788)







  • B. l. lineatus (Gmelin, 1788)
  • B. l. alleni
  • B. l. elegans
  • B. l. extimus
  • B. l. texanus


Food and feeding[edit]

While in forested areas, these birds typically wait on a perch and swoop down on prey. When in clearings, they sometimes fly low to surprise prey. Red-shouldered Hawks, like most raptors, have very sharp vision and reasonably good hearing, with talons capable of killing animals at least equal to their own size. Small mammals are typically the most important prey, especially rodents. Voles, gophers, mice, moles and chipmunks may locally be favored based on abundance. Slightly larger mammals, such as rabbits and tree squirrels, are also occasionally predated. Other prey can include amphibians, reptiles (especially small snakes), small birds, and large insects. They will attack birds as large as pigeons. Blue jays, a potential prey species, sometimes habitually imitate the call of the Red-shouldered Hawk and are known to be difficult to distinguish on voice alone.[9] During winters, Red-shouldered Hawks sometimes habituate to preying on birds commonly found at bird feeders. In some areas where they are common, crayfish can be important prey for this species. Unusual food items recorded for the species have included turnal animals such as Eastern Screech Owls and flying squirrels and road-killed deer.[10]


The breeding habitats of the Red-shouldered Hawk are deciduous and mixed wooded areas, often near water. Like almost all raptors, the Red-shouldered Hawk is monogamous and territorial. While courting or defending territories, the distinctive, screaming kee-aah call (usually repeated three to four times) of this bird is heard. Courtship displays occur on the breeding grounds, and involve soaring together in broad circles while calling, or soaring and diving toward one another. Males may also perform the "sky-dance" by soaring high in the air, and then making a series of steep dives, each followed by a wide spiral and rapid ascent. These courtship flights usually occur in late morning and early afternoon.


Although they have lived as long as within a month of 20 years old, few live half that long and only around half survive their first year. Early mortality can be due to natural causes, relating to harsh weather conditions, or more often starvation. Humans, unintentionally or intentionally are a threat to Red-shouldered Hawks, including hunting, collision with electric wires, road accidents and logging. A further common cause of mortality is natural predation. Raccoons, martens, fishers and large arboreal snakes can predate eggs, hatchlings, fledgings and occasionally incubating and brooding adults. Non-nesting adults, being a fairly large and powerful predator, have fewer natural predators, but (both during and after the breeding season) they may be predated by Great Horned Owls, Red-tailed Hawks, Barred Owls, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, and Bald and Golden Eagles. Many of the same predators sometimes compete over territory and food with this species. In Florida, Red-shouldered Hawks sometimes collaborate and peaceably coexist with American Crows (usually an enemy to all other birds because of their egg-hunting habits) so they cooperatively mob mutual predators, mainly Great Horned Owls and Red-tailed Hawks.


Prior to 1900, the Red-shouldered Hawk was one of the most common North American raptors. Population densities have decreased precipitously due to the clearing of mature forests (principally the wet hardwood forest they prefer) since that time. The changing of habitats has led to a general population increase of the Red-tailed Hawk, an occasional predator of its cousin. Additionally affecting the Red-shouldered Hawk was the greater availability of firearms in the early 1900s, leading to unchecked hunting of this and all other raptor species until conservation laws took effect in the latter half of the 20th century. Local forest regrowth and the ban of hunting has allowed Red-shouldered Hawk populations to become more stable again and the species is not currently considered conservation dependent. In Florida, the Red-shouldered Hawk is perhaps the most commonly seen and heard raptor species.[11] However, human activity, including logging, poisoning from insecticides and industrial pollutants, continue to loom as threats to the species.

In art[edit]

John James Audubon illustrates the Red-shouldered Hawk in his book

Woodbridge, Connecticut, April 2002. By Tony Phillips.

Problems playing this file? See media help.



  4. ^ Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). Retrieved on 2012-12-19.

External links[edit]