Hawk/Falcon Facts Flashcards
(35 cards)
Red Shouldered Hawk Appearance
Adults are medium-sized hawks and are colorful with dark wings with white barring. They have a rusty red shoulder and underparts that are paler and barred with a rust color. Their distinctive tail is black with white bands.
Red Shouldered Hawk weight
approx. 1.5 lbs
Red Shouldered Hawk habitat
Red-Shouldered Hawks live in deciduous woodlands, often near rivers and swamps. During migration, Red-Shouldered Hawks often move high overhead along ridges or along the coast. They are not exclusively birds of deep forest. You will find Red-Shouldered Hawks in some suburban areas where houses or other buildings are mixed into woodlands.
Red Shouldered Hawk Diet
eat mostly small mammals, lizards, snakes, and amphibians; they also eat toads, snakes, and crayfish; they occasionally eat birds such as sparrows, starlings, and doves
Red Shouldered Hawk Behavior
Red-Shouldered Hawks soar over forests or perch on tree branches or utility wires. They hunt from perches below the forest canopy or at the edge of a pond, sitting silently until they sight their prey below
Red- Tailed Hawk Appearance
The Red-Tailed Hawk has a brown back and white breast. The tail of the adult is usually pale below and a brick-red color above. In young Red-Tailed Hawks, the tail will be brown and banded. Red-Tailed Hawks usually molt into adult plumage (including the red tail) at the beginning of their second year.
Red-Tailed Hawk weight
Approx 3-3.5
Red Tailed Hawk habitat
Red-Tailed Hawks occupy just about every type of open habitat on the continent. This includes woodlands, fields, plains, deserts, scrublands, grasslands, roadsides, and parks. Look for them along fields and perched on telephones poles, fence posts, or trees.
Red-Tailed Hawk Diet
Mammals make up the bulk of most Red-Tailed Hawk meals. These include voles, mice, wood rats, rabbits, snowshoe hares, jackrabbits, and ground squirrels. Red-Tailed Hawks also eat birds such as peasants, bobwhites, and various songbirds.
Red Tailed Hawk Behavior
Red-Tailed Hawks are most often seen soaring in a wide circle above a field. They may also be seen sitting on the top of telephone poles with their eyes fixed on the ground to catch the movements of a small mammal. Red-Tailed Hawks attack in a slow, controlled dive with legs outstretched. Red-Tailed Hawks are also known to be aggressive when defending nests or territories. They frequently chase off other hawks, eagles, and Great Horned Owls.
Red Tailed Hawk fun facts
The Red-Tailed Hawk is one of the most common hawks in North America. It did not suffer the sever population declines caused by DDT that affected other species. Also, the Red-Tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that has caught the attention of most Hollywood directors. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-Tailed Hawk.
Harris’s Hawk Appearance
Harris’s Hawks are medium-sized to large hawks. They have bold markings of dark brown, chestnut red, and white. They have long yellow legs and yellow markings on the face.
Harris’s Hawk habitat
Harris’s Hawks reside in the arid southwest (They are not native to Ohio). They are conspicuous birds of desert and savannah environments. Harris’s Hawks are found in semi-open desert lowlands and in some wetland habitats. Their territories include high perches such as trees, boulders, and power poles, which the birds use as lookouts, feeding platforms, and for nesting. Access to water is important in hot environments, and they generally choose areas that include water features such as springs, water catchments and cattle tanks. As development has expanded, Harris’s Hawks have moved into urban and suburban areas throughout their range.
Harris’s Hawk Diet
Harris’s Hawks feed mostly on medium-sized mammals such as hares, rabbits, ground squirrels, and other rodents. They may also take quail, medium-sized birds, and reptiles.
Harris’s Hawk Behavior
When hunting, a group of hawks surround their prey, flush it for another to catch, or take turns chasing it. They are agile flyers that, when hunting, may also take to the ground, running and hopping to seize prey.
Harris’s Hawk Fun Fact
The most social of North American raptors, these birds are often found in groups, cooperatively attending nests and hunting together as a team. Groups can consist of up to seven individuals, including both related and unrelated adults of different ages. They will feed according to dominance hierarchies within the group. This hawk’s social nature and relative ease with humans has made it popular among falconers and in education.
Rough Legged Hawk Appearance
Rough-Legged Hawks are fairly large hawks with broad wings and a long tail. They are boldly patterned, dark-brown hawks with tails that are dark at the tip and pale at the base. They occur in light and dark morphs. Light morphs have pale underwings with dark patches at the bend of the wing. Females have pale heads and dark belly patches. On males, the pattern is similar but more mottled. Dark morphs are mostly dark brown but usually show pale trailing edges to the underwing.
Rough-Legged Hawk weight
approx. 2lbs
Rough-Legged Hawk Habitat
Rough-Legged Hawks breed in open country of the arctic, both in North America and Eurasia. They nest on cliffs and outcroppings in low-lying boreal forest, treeless tundra, uplands, and alpine regions, both inland and coastal. During years of abundant prey, their breeding range extends south into forested taiga. In tree-covered areas, they hunt over open bogs and other clearings. They winter across southern Canada and most of the United States—west, central, and northeast—in open country, including grasslands, coastal prairies and marshes, farmland, and dunes.
Rough-Legged Hawk Diet
On their arctic breeding grounds, they eat mostly small rodents such as lemmings and voles, along with some medium-sized mammals—arctic ground squirrels, young hares, pocket gophers—and birds. On their wintering grounds, they eat mostly voles, mice, and shrews.
Rough-Legged Hawk behavior
The Rough-Legged Hawk hunts by pursuing prey or by hovering into the wind and dropping down on prey. They also hunt from elevated perches such as utility poles, trees, fence posts, and haystacks, particularly in winter. They sometimes feed on carrion or steal from other hawks and ravens.
Feathers fun fact of Rough-Legged Hawk
The name “Rough-Legged” Hawk refers to the feathered legs. Rough-Legged Hawks are one of three raptors in the United States with feathers all the way to their toes (Other two are the Ferruginous Hawk and the Golden Eagle). It is an adaptation for living in cold climates.
Peregrine Falcon Appearance
Peregrine Falcons are the largest falcon over most of the continent, with long, pointed wings and a long tail. Adults have blue-gray to brown-gray upperparts and barred underparts. They have a dark head and a black tear stripe on their cheeks (This stripe is important for keeping the sun out of their eyes).
Peregrine Falcon habitat
Peregrine Falcons occur all over the world. In North America, they are most common along coasts. They breed in open landscapes with cliffs (or skyscrapers) for nest sites. They can be found nesting at elevations up to about 12,000 feet, as well as along rivers and coastlines or in cities.
