Stats

Lifespan: 10-21 yrs
Size: Large
Diet: Carnivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Pair
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: North America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Speed
Status: Common

About

A broad-winged buteo of open country across the Americas, easily known by its rusty fan-shaped tail and unhurried high circling. Its raspy scream is so iconic that Hollywood dubs it over almost any soaring raptor on screen, including bald eagles.

Life cycle

1.
egg
One or two eggs are incubated on a high stick nest or cliff ledge, guarded closely by the pair.
2.
hatchling
A downy hatchling is fed torn meat by its parents and grows quickly in a high nest.
3.
juvenile
A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to soar and to make its first kills.
4.
adult
Fully grown, hunting on its own with adult plumage.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Buteo
Species: Buteo jamaicensis