Clipboard : BREEDING BIRDS: Red-Shouldered Hawk

Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)

Description: Long, rounded wings and long-tailed. Dark red below showing pale crescent at base of primaries and dark tail with narrow white bands; reddish wing linings and underparts; red-shoulders are sometimes inconspicuous. Flies using several quick wing beats and a glide.

Habitat: Fairly common in moist, mixed woodlands; often seen near streams.

Diet: Preys on snakes, frogs, mice and sometimes young birds. Uses old nest as an eating platform.

Displays: One to four birds soar, flap, swoop and dive while calling over territories.

Nest: Made of twigs, sticks, inner bark strips, dry leaves and moss; replenishes nest with fine materials and green leaves throughout the incubation period.

Eggs: A little over 2 inches long; white/bluish-white, often nest-stained, marked with brown.

Song: Series of evenly-spaced clear, high kee-ah or kah notes.

Conservation: Population is declining or now stabilized at low numbers; known to accumulate organochlorine pesticides and PCBs, but habitat loss is the major threat.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Indicates 5-kilometer-square areas where breeding activity has been confirmed.

Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).