Buteo lineatus
(Red-shouldered Hawk)

Description

The red-shouldered hawk is a medium sized hawk that is a year round resident in Florida.

As its name implies it has reddish brown feathers along its shoulders and breast. They are from 16 to 24 inches in height with a wing span of 40 inches. The females are larger than the males. Their tails and wings are a dark brown and white checkered pattern. The tail has narrow white bands. They have extremely long talons and piercing eyes.

“The Cherokee believed “Red-Tailed, and Red Shoulder Hawks are messengers of vision. When you see one of these beautiful birds, whatever you were thinking about at the time is happening around you, or it will come true and manifest in your life.” (springwolf.com) Jul 10, 2022.

Common Name, Latin Name and Family

Red-shouldered Hawk

Buteo lineatus

The red-shouldered hawk is in the Accipitridae family of birds which includes eagles, hawks, and kites.

Behavior

They are not fearful of humans and will happily hunt while one goes about their gardening or yard work. They are one of the few hawks that will actively hunt directly in the vicinity of humans.

They are very vocal and constantly call to their mate or their nestlings. They have a high pitched call that sounds like “kee-ah” and they repeat it in rapid succession for five to twelve times in a row. It can be a little grating on a person’s nerves and I have seen neighbors shoot them because of it. They also have a shrill scream that sound like “kee-yeeear”.

Habitat

The red-shouldered hawk is found in forests and woodlands usually near rivers and swamps. They build their nests in the tall trees of their territory so they need mature forests to thrive in. Habitat destruction is the biggest threat to their survival along with pesticide usage. Pesticides are still being found in their eggs during research studies.

They can be found in drier areas such as pine flatwoods if there is a water source nearby.

Range

“Red-shouldered hawk – A common resident over most of the state, less common in the western Panhandle and the Keys. Florida’s most widespread diurnal raptor, it is found in swamps and other wooded habitats and is often seen perched on powerlines. The South Florida race of the Red-shouldered Hawk is particularly pale and small. Vocal and difficult to miss.” [1]

They are found in roughly the eastern third of the United States as well as the coast of California.

Hawks In Florida

In Florida we have seven hawks that are divided into two groups – the Accipiters and Buteos. This is not including the eagles and kites that are in the Accipitridae family as well.

In the Accipiter genus we have two species of small swift hawks with their main prey being birds – the sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) and the Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii). These hawks are commonly called sparrow hawks.

In the Buteo genus we have five species of medium sized hawks that hunt rodents, mammals, and reptiles – the red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus), short-tailed hawk (Buteo brachyurus), red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), broad winged hawk (Buteo platypterus), and the Swainson’s hawk (Buteo swainsoni).

Food

They eat a variety of animals from rats to snakes. In my experience I have seen them catch, and consume, doves, rats, squirrels, ducklings, rabbits, lizards, snakes, and frogs. They are on a constant hunt for food and will eat just about anything they can catch. When they have nestlings to feed the male and female are on the hunt non-stop.

I always have an open feeding table at every green space I have lived at. I always placed food and fruit scraps for the songbirds. However, the red-shouldered hawks learned to check it for tidbits they wanted every time I placed food out. I would put out scraps of scrambled eggs, chicken, or beef and the hawks would come and get a bite or two to keep them going while they hunted the property.

Their habit started when I began to place spoiled meat on the table for my resident vulture. The hawks came down to investigate, but tasted it and shook their heads, but it did get them in the habit of seeing if there was something on the table they might like to eat.

Nesting and Young

Red-shouldered hawks are monogamous and the pair will use the same territory for many years.

They use tall trees to build their nests in usually from 20 to 60 off the ground.

2 to 4 bluish white eggs are laid in April.

The nest is usually found in the crotch of the main branches and is constructed of sticks, twigs, lichen, moss, leaves, pine needles, and bark strips. The nest is line with fresh leaves that are replenished often once incubation begins.

Incubation takes 28 days and once they hatch they depend entirely on their parents to bring them food.

They are able to fly at 39 to 45 days. [2]

Conservation

“Red-shouldered hawks and their active nests – those with eggs or chicks – are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and under Florida law. No intentional or unintentional take of these birds, their eggs, nests or young is permitted without proper authorization”. [3]

Footnotes:

[1] Pranty, Bill. A Birder’s Guide to Florida. American Birding Association. 1996.

[2] Ehrlich, Paul R., et al. The Birder’s Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. New York, NY. Simon and Schuster. 1988

[3] https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/birds/raptors-and-vultures/red-shouldered-hawk/