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Field
Guide IDs: BREEDING:
Woodland and open
country with scattered trees, desert. 1?
brood. DISPLAYS:
Aerial display:
pair spiral, recross, male usu circling behind and
above female. Male may stoop at female, feet
touching or interlocking as female rolls over.
Courtship feeding. NEST:
In crotch of large
tree with commanding view; bulky, of sticks and
twigs, lined with inner bark strips, evergreen
sprigs, green leaves; greens renewed. May use old
raptor nest as base. Alternately uses several
perennial nests. EGGS:
White/bluish-white,
spotted with brown or unmarked. 2.4" (60
mm). DIET:
Mostly (85% +)
rodents; also amphibians, crayfish, fish, and
offal. CONSERVATION:
Winters s to
Panama. Much reduced in e by early bounty;
continued steady decline from human persecution and
habitat loss, also some egg-shell
thinning. NOTES:
Most common and
widespread Buteo. Interspecifically
territorial with Swainson's Hawk. Female often
returns to previous nesting territory. Young hatch
asynchronously. Harlan's Hawk, formerly considered
separate species, now considered form of
Red-tail. A few pairs are
resident on campus, foraging for California ground
squirrels and smaller rodents in fields, ruderal
habitats, and occasionally on lawns. Abundance is
limited by territory size and availability of large
trees for nesting. Competes to some extent with the
Red-shouldered Hawk for nest sites, although
generally prefers larger, sturdier platforms for
nest support and more open canopies than the
Red-shouldered Hawk. ESSAYS: Eye
Color;
Size
and Sex in Raptors;
Raptor
Hunting;
Metallic
Poisons;
Site
Tenacity;
Nest
Sanitation;
Brood
Reduction;
Courtship
Feeding REFERENCES:
Brown and Amadon,
1968; Janes, 1984a, b; Mader, 1978. |
