Red-shouldered Hawk

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

General

Red-shouldered Hawk: Large hawk with brown upperparts and head. Underparts are white with rust-red barring. Wings are finely barred above with red-brown shoulders and pale below with red-brown wash and dark tips. Tail is dark with thick white bands. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has dark-streaked white underparts.

Range and Habitat

Red-shouldered Hawk: Resident in the eastern woodlands and west of the Rocky Mountains; also in New England and the Great Lakes region during the summer.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"Kee-yer"

Interesting Facts

By the time they are five days old, nestling Red-shouldered Hawks can shoot their feces over the edge of their nest. Bird poop on the ground is a sign of an active nest.
The Red-shouldered Hawk and the Barred Owl occupy the same range in the eastern United States. They prefer the same moist woodland habitats and eat similar animals. The hawk is active during the day, and the owl is active at night.
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.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk: Large hawk with brown upperparts and head. Underparts are white with rust-red barring. The wings are finely barred above with red-brown shoulders and pale below with red-brown wash and dark tips. Tail is dark with thick white bands.

● Song: "Kee-yer"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-shouldered Hawk: Diet of consists of small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and large insects. Hunts while perched or soaring.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-shouldered Hawk: Two to six brown marked, white to blue eggs are laid in a large stick nest lined with finer materials and built in a tree. Eggs are incubated for 28 days by both sexes.

● Similar species: Red-shouldered Hawk: Broad-winged Hawk lacks red shoulders, has black-and-white bands on tail of even width, and a crisp black border on underwings.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals., Fairly rapid stiff wing beats., Soars on flat wings and glides on slightly drooped wings.

● Range & Habitat: Red-shouldered Hawk: Resident in the eastern woodlands and west of the Rocky Mountains; also in New England and the Great Lakes region during the summer.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common

^MigrationSome migrate

^Weight17.6 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America