Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis borealis subspecies

The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis ) is a representative of Real buzzards ( genus Buteo ) from the Accipitridae family ( Accipitridae ). It is the most common buzzard in North America and feeds on rodents.

Description

The Red-tailed Hawk has a body length of 45-58 cm and a wingspan 107-141 cm. Males are smaller than females. He has broad, rounded wings and a much stronger bill than the rough-legged buzzard. The plumage is very variable; the total distribution area ten subspecies are distinguished, also form the part of each of several color morphs.

Fully-grown birds

In adult birds the color of the top of the fuselage and the wing is dark brown; with dark morphs monochrome, interspersed with bright morphs with whitish spots. This bright mottling may be on the wings and in the area of the middle of the back especially pronounced and thus form distinct, bright ribbons. The tail is unbanded and (j example. Borealis and B. j. Calurus ) in the two subspecies with the largest distribution area oberseits mostly rust, underside pale red with a weak dark Subterminalbinde and a narrow whitish terminal band.

Fuselage and under wing-coverts are whitish in the lighter morphs. The bend of wing is the wing base dark until about Carpalgelenk, also shows the belly usually a band of dark longitudinal spots. For darker morphs of the hull as the top is solid brown or reddish. The iris is dark brown to reddish.

Young birds

In young birds the tail as opposed to the adult birds is gray-brown with continuous, numerous dark transverse bands, a wider Subterminalbinde and a whitish terminal band, except for the subspecies Buteo j. harlani. The underside is mottled dark, the iris bright

Subspecies

• B. j. borealis - comes in eastern North America to the Great Plains and south to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico off, wintered in the south to southern Mexico.

• B. j. calurus - occurs to the south of Arizona and New Mexico in western North America from Alberta. A dark and a red-brown morph. These have a dark underside and dark markings of the wings that obscure the dark front wing edges and the belly band. The tail is dark reddish.

• B. j. alascensis - is found on the coasts in southeast Alaska, British Columbia and Washington, wintered in the southwestern United States.

• B. j. harlani - breeds in western and central Alaska and Canada in the Yukon and northern British Columbia, wintering mainly in the southern USA. He lacks the otherwise typical color and pattern of the tail. The dark morph has an off-white tail with diffuse darker and brighter Subterminalbinde terminal band. On the dark chest are some white stripes. The other base is also dark. The bright spots on the screen springs and ceilings of the primaries can be reduced. The rare bright morph also has this tail coloring and drawing.

• B. j. fuertesi - comes in the southwestern United States, from South Carolina to Texas in the south to northwestern Mexico before, has no bright belly band and is generally lighter on the underside.

• B. j. umbrinus - occurs in southern Florida and the Bahamas.

• B. j. solitudinis - occurs in Cuba and the Bahamas.

• B. j. jamaicensis - the nominate form, occurs in Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the northern part of the West Indies.

• B. j. kemsiesii - occurs to the north of Nicaragua in the highlands of the far south of Mexico and to the south.

• B. j. costaricensis - occurs in the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama.

• B. j. socorroensis - comes to the Socorro Islands to the west before before central Mexico.

• B. j. suttoni - occurs in the south of Baja California.

• B. j. fumosus - occurs on the Tres Marias Islands west of central Mexico.

• B. j. hadropus - comes in the highlands of southern Mexico ( Jalisco south to Oaxaca ) ago.

Voice

Characteristically reputation is a rough, descending " kiiieer ".

Habitat

Forests with adjacent open areas, prairie with woody plants, even deserts.