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Wildlife
- Birds - |
Red-shouldered Hawk
(Buteo lineatus)
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RANGE: Breeds from northern California south, west of the Sierra
Nevada divide, to Baja California; and from eastern Nebraska,
central Minnesota, southern Ontario, and southern New Brunswick
south to Mexico. Winters primarily from eastern Kansas and
central Missouri to southern New England southward, but also
sporadically throughout breeding range.
STATUS: Common, but population is unstable.
HABITAT: Inhabits moist, well-drained woodlands, wooded river
swamps, bottomlands, and wooded margins of marshes, often close
to cultivated fields. Seems to prefer mature forests and is
usually more common in lowland areas than in mountainous
regions.
SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Riparian deciduous woodlands with
tall trees for nesting. Strongest nesting habitat
association in South Coast mixed forest.
NEST: Nests 20 to 60 feet above ground in tall trees. Usually
builds nest 35-45 feet above ground on a main fork and close to
the tree trunk. Has built nests in oak, pine, baldcypress,
mangrove, cottonwood, birch, beech, sycamore, yellow-poplar,
ash, sweetgum and maple. Occasionally uses an abandoned hawk,
crow, or squirrel nest as a foundation for a new nest; often
uses the same nest site year after year.
FOOD: Perches on a fence post, tree, or telephone pole and
overlooks a meadow, marsh, open field, or forest to sight prey.
Feeds primarily on small mammals but also takes rabbits,
squirrels, small birds, frogs, small snakes, toads, lizards,
fishes, and large insects. Small mammals and some reptiles and
amphibians.
REFERENCES: Adamus et al. 2001, Bednarz and Dinsmore 1982,
DeGraff et al. 1980, Forbush and May 1955, Heintzelman 1979,
Marshall et al. 2003, McAtee 1935, Miller 1999, Portnoy and
Dodge 1979, Shunk 2004, Sibley 2000. Sprunt 1955, Stewart 1949,
Tate and Tate 1982.
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