Species: Buteo jamaicensis
Red-tailed Hawk
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Falconiformes
Family
Accipitridae
Genus
Buteo
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Aguililla Cola Roja - buse à queue rousse
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Raptors
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Falconiformes - Accipitridae - Buteo - The phylogenetic status of the nominal subspecies needs to be evaluated with genetic techniques; do the geographic color variations represent distinct evolutionary lineages?
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
A hawk.
Migration
true - true - true - Northern populations mainly migratory (some breeders resident on or near territories all year), generally arrive in northern breeding areas in March and April (yearlings may still be migrating as late as May and June), depart by September-October (Bent 1937), may continue southward movement into December. Migrations may be influenced by food supply. Most migrants from north migrate no farther south than northern Mexico (Palmer 1988).
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Opportunistic. Rodents, lagomorphs, birds, and reptiles common in diet but also eats various other vertebrates and sometimes invertebrates as available. Among several hunting methods, perch-and-wait most common and yields greatest success (Palmer 1988). Also perches and hunts along highways.
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size commonly is 2-3. Incubation lasts about 34 days per egg, mostly by female. Young are tended by both parents, may leave nest at about 4 weeks, fly at about 6.5-7 weeks, depend on parents for food for at least a few weeks after fledging. If clutch lost, renests usually in another nest a few weeks later. Successful reproduction usually does not occur before age 2 years. Pair bond typically lifelong, at least in nonmigratory populations and probably in migrants as well.
Ecology Comments
Breeding density (pairs /sq. km) varies from 0.03 (Utah) to 0.78 (California); mostly less than 0.025 (but 0.2-0.6 pairs/sq. km in different habitats in Puerto) (Santana 1988, Rothfels and Lein 1983). In Puerto Rico, remains paired and defends territory throughout the year (Santana 1988). Also territorial in winter in at least some parts of the U.S. In a largely sedentary population in Wisconsin, mean seasonal home ranges varied as follows: fall male 390 ha (n=1), female 123 ha (n=2); winter male 157 ha (n=3), female 167 ha (n=6); spring male 163 ha (n=2), female 85 ha (n=6); summer male 117 ha (n=1), female 117 ha (n=5) (Petersen 1979). Most forage within 3 kilometers of the nest (Kochert 1986). See Palmer (1988) for discussion of interactions with other hawks and Great Horned Owl.
Length
56
Weight
1224
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-22
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-22
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: western and central Alaska, central Yukon, western Mackenzie, northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, central Ontario, southern Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia south to southeastern Alaska, Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, southern Texas, Gulf Coast, and Florida, and highlands of Middle America to Costa Rica and western Panama (east to Canal Zone); in Tres Marias and Socorro islands off western Mexico; and in northern Bahamas (Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros), Greater Antilles, and northern Lesser Antilles (Saba south to Nevis) (AOU 1983). WINTERS: southern Canada south through remainder of breeding range, also in lowlands of Central America. In the U.S., most abundant in winter in California-western Nevada and in the farming and ranching region of the central U.S. (Root 1988). Accidental in England and Bermuda (AOU 1983).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)