Species: Buteo jamaicensis

Red-tailed Hawk

Species

Birds

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Salish Sea-reliant birds

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Falconiformes

Family

Accipitridae

Genus

Buteo

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103000

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

Weight

1224

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-22

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-22

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

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

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103000