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Red-shouldered Hawk

Buteo lineatusOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)
Red-Shouldered Hawk Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: Hooked
  • Eye Color: Immature pale to medium gray-brown. Adult dark brown.
  • Head Pattern: Eyeline, Streaked
  • Crown Color: Brown
  • Forehead Color: Brown
  • Nape Color: Brown with rust-brown streaking.
  • Throat Color: Rusty
  • Cere color: Yellow
Red-Shouldered Hawk Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 43-61 cm (17-24 in)
  • Weight: 499 g (17.6 oz)
  • Size: Large (16 - 32 in)
  • Color Primary: Brown, Rufous or Rust
  • Underparts: Rust-brown with fine white barring.
  • Upperparts: Dark brown with white scalloping.
  • Back Pattern: Spotted or speckled, Mottled
  • Belly Pattern: Barred or banded
  • Breast Pattern: Barred or banded, Solid
Red-Shouldered Hawk Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Soars on thermals., Fairly rapid stiff wing beats., Soars on flat wings and glides on slightly drooped wings.
  • Wingspan Range: 81-127 cm (32-50 in)
  • Wing Shape: Broad-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Squared Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Narrow white bands.
  • Upper Tail: Black with white bands.
  • Under Tail: Brown
  • Leg Color: Yellow
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Family
Species Buteo lineatus
Length17 - 24 Inches
Wingspan41 Inches

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.
Red-Shouldered Hawk Body Illustration
● 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