Ferruginous Hawk

Buteo regalisOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)

Related Birds

Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk

General

Ferruginous Hawk: Large hawk with white head and streaked, rust-brown shoulders, back, and feathered legs. Underparts have scattered rufous streaks. Wings are gray-brown. Tail is white with rust-brown wash. Dark morph is red-brown with white flight feathers. Sexes are similar, but female is up to one and a half times larger than male. Juvenile lacks rust-brown on legs and has duller back.

Range and Habitat

Ferruginous Hawk: Found in Canada, south through western and central U.S. to northern Texas. Preferred habitats include lowlands, plateaus, valleys, plains, rolling hills of grasslands, agricultural lands, ranches, and the edges of deserts.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kree-a", "kaah kaah"

Interesting Facts

The common name of the Ferruginous Hawk means "rusty color" and refers to the coloration of the bird’s wing and legging feathers.
They nest in trees and on the ground. For some unknown reason, tree nests tend to have a greater number of eggs per clutch than ground nests.
Before the elimination of bison in the West, their nests were often partially constructed of bison bones and wool.
A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Ferruginous Hawk

Ferruginous Hawk: Large hawk, white head, streaked, rust-brown shoulders, back, and feathered legs. Underparts have scattered rufous streaks. Gray-brown wings. Tail is white with rust-brown wash. Dark morph is red-brown with white flight feathers. Alternates deep flaps and glides, soars on thermals.

● Song: "kree-a", "kaah kaah"

● Foraging & Feeding: Ferruginous Hawk: Eats ground squirrels, jackrabbits, mice, birds, reptiles, and amphibians; hunts while soaring or from perches.

● Breeding & nesting: Ferruginous Hawk: Two to six brown blotched, white to pale blue eggs are laid in a nest built of sticks, cow dung, bones, and grass, and built on a low cliff, butte, cut bank, shrub, or tree. Both parents incubate eggs for about 28 days.

● Similar species: Ferruginous Hawk: Rough-legged Hawk has a banded tail and lacks rust-brown leggings. "Krider’s” Red-tailed Hawk has more rounded wings and featherless lower legs.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals., Alternates several deep flaps with glides.

● Range & Habitat: Ferruginous Hawk: Found in Canada, south through western and central U.S. to northern Texas. Preferred habitats include lowlands, plateaus, valleys, plains, rolling hills of grasslands, agricultural lands, ranches, and the edges of deserts.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationCommon in West, rare in East.

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight36.8 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America