All About The Red-Shouldered Hawk

This is the red-shouldered hawk, a smaller common hawk that lives around forests and waterways. They are very territorial and will fight with other birds, including owls, to defend their nest. You may see them near crows. Red-shouldered hawks and American crows often have a complicated relationship that involves chasing, stealing food, and attacking each other. But they have been observed working together to scare away larger birds, such as owls, like this great horned. Hi, I'm Amy, science teacher and master gardener. I create videos and write books about organic gardening and wildlife conservation. This year, I'll be turning a new garden space into a place for pollinators, birds, and with lots of vegetables and fruits for the humans as well. You can watch my New Year video to learn more about that. The red-shouldered hawk is a secretive raptor that typically avoids more open areas, preferring to live in the woodlands along streams, river valleys, meadows, and forested swamps. They have a barred, cream, or reddish-colored chest. Western birds may appear more red, while eastern birds are generally paler. Their tails are marked with narrow white bars. You can see their namesake red shoulders when the birds are perched. Their wingspan is three to three and a half feet, and in flight, their red shoulders are visible above the white barred wing feathers. When in flight, their tails fan out. You can differentiate them from the red-tailed hawk by the lack of red tail feathers. They are part of the family Buteo, which is a large group of hawks, or buzzards as they are called in the old world. They live throughout the eastern U.S. and along the western coast. Red-shouldered hawks swoop down and pick up their prey at ground layer. They are opportunistic, feeding mostly on small rodents, but also fledgling birds, fish, and insects. They will even eat snakes and salamanders. They are monogamous and territorial. One red-shouldered hawk pair occupied territory in southern California for 16 consecutive years. I haven't managed to catch any on video, but Audubon has some great ones of the males performing their sky dance by soaring in the air and then making a series of deep dives and spirals. They build stick nests in large trees about midway up the canopy. Nests are about two feet wide and lined with bark, moss, and lichens. The parents will keep adding fresh green leaves throughout the nesting season. They mate between April and July, and the female will lay three to four eggs. The incubation period averages about 30 days. The female does most of the brooding and stays with the young while the male hunts and brings food. The chicks start fledging at six weeks of age, but remain pretty dependent on the parents until they are 18 weeks. They may continue to roost near the nest site until the following breeding season. Breeding maturity is usually attained at one or two years of age. Clearing forests for building houses and roads causes loss of habitat for many species of hawks. Because of this, the red-shouldered hawk has adapted to urban areas and may live in suburbs with older trees or city parks. From time to time, red-shouldered hawks will also eat backyard birds. The birds most often captured at feeders are European starlings, house sparrows, and morning doves. One reason why red-shouldered hawks do not eat more birds is that the hawks' relatively broad wings and short tails make it difficult for them to maneuver quickly enough to capture smaller birds who are quite fast. So if you have bird feeders, provide plenty of bushes or tall vegetation for the songbirds to hide in. You can check out my other videos on birds of prey, including the red-tailed hawk and the snowy owl. Subscribe to my channel for more nature and gardening video. Thanks for watching and have a fabulous day!