Quantcast

Short-tailed Hawk

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

Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph Portrait
  Copyright 2002-2007 Whatbird.com
Click here for licensing information Splitbar

General

Short-tailed Hawk: Small hawk of grassland and woodland habitat in Florida. Occurs in two color morphs: Dark morph adult is uniformly dark brown with thin dark bands on a dull white tail. In flight shows white flight feathers with thin dark bands and dark wingtips. Sexes are similar. Juvenile dark morph resembles adult but has fine white spotting on belly, undertail, and underwings. Light morph adult has dark brown upperparts, white underparts, and rufous-brown patch on side of neck. Juvenile light morph has streaked dark upperparts and white underparts, but lacks rufous-brown neck patch.

Range and Habitat

Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph: Found in a wide variety of mixed woodland and grassland habitats throughout the southern two-thirds of Florida.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"keeee"

Interesting Facts

 The Short-tailed Hawk is a rare bird in Florida, although it is not on the Endangered Species list.

 The bird’s range also includes central Mexico south to the Andes and Chile.

 It is easily identified by its solid color underparts (dark or light depending on phase) and striped wing and tail feathers.

 A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

Splitbar
Range Map for Short-tailed Hawk
.
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007  Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
 Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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.
Family
Species Buteo brachyurus
Length15 - 17 Inches
Wingspan37 Inches

Short-tailed Hawk

Short-tailed Hawk: Small hawk of grass and woodland habitat in Florida. Occurs in two color morphs: Dark morph adult is uniformly dark brown with thin dark bands on a dull white tail. In flight shows white flight feathers with thin dark bands and dark wingtips. The light morph has white underparts.

● Song: "keeee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph: Hunts exclusively from the air, dropping out of the sky to catch small birds by surprise, almost never perches except at night. Preys on birds that are on the ground or on the outer branches of trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph: Male supplies sticks for nest, but female does nearly all nest construction. Nests placed high in trees. Lays two to three creamy white to pale blue eggs marked with brown in March or April. Female incubates for 34 days while male brings her food. Fledgling period little known.

● Similar species: Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph: Dark morph Broad-winged Hawk shows conspicuous dark border around perimeter of wing, and much broader tail bands. Dark morph Swainson's Hawk is darker and much larger with long pointed wingtips.

Flight Pattern

Nearly always airborne with flat wings and prolonged soaring.
Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph: Found in a wide variety of mixed woodland and grassland habitats throughout the southern two-thirds of Florida.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight16 Ounces