Red-shouldered Hawk
Buteo lineatus
Also known as: Winter Hawk · Red-shouldered Buzzard · Hen Hawk · Mouse Hawk · Red-bellied Hawk
Aves
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- 15-20 yrs
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Pair
- Biome
- Temperate forest
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Speed
- Status
- Common
About
A medium-sized forest hawk of eastern North America and California, recognised by its rusty-orange barred breast and bold black-and-white banded tail. Its loud, repetitive 'kee-aah' call is so distinctive that Blue Jays routinely mimic it to warn of approaching predators.
Life cycle
- 1.eggOne or two eggs are incubated on a high stick nest or cliff ledge, guarded closely by the pair.
- 2.hatchlingA downy hatchling is fed torn meat by its parents and grows quickly in a high nest.
- 3.juvenileA feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to soar and to make its first kills.
- 4.adultFully grown, hunting on its own with adult plumage.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Buteo
- Species
- Buteo lineatus