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The red-tailed hawk is now placed in the genus Buteo that was erected by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. [15] [16] In flight showing the red tail A red-tailed hawk hovers in the wind. The red-tailed hawk is a member of the subfamily Buteoninae, which includes about 55 currently recognized species.
Examples include the red-tailed hawk of North America and the common buzzard of Eurasia. Most Northern Hemisphere species are at least partially migratory. In North America , species such as broad-winged hawks and Swainson's hawks are known for their huge numbers (often called "kettles") while passing over major migratory flyways in the fall.
Unlike some birds, but similar to other diurnal raptors, most hawk species are violet-sensitive but cannot perceive ultraviolet light. [11] Hawks also have relatively high visual acuity – the distance at which they can resolve an image – with red-tailed hawks reported to have 16.8 cycles per degree. [12]
[6] [7] Adult B. j. calurus are usually rangier and darker than the eastern red-tailed hawk (B. j. borealis), with pale individuals usually having a richer tawny base color (with occasionally a pale rufous color showing around the chest or neck), typically a heavily streaked breast and belly band, a brownish throat, dark barring on the flanks ...
Red-Tailed Hawk. Extremely common in North America, the red-tailed hawk is often sighted soaring in circles overhead. As Wilson notes, smaller birds will attack and annoy red-tails, representing ...
[4] [5] The subfamily includes about 79 currently recognized species. [6] Unlike the many lineages of Accipitridae which seem to have radiated out of Africa or South Asia, the Buteoninae clearly originated in the Americas based on fossil records and current species distributions (more than 75% of the extant raptors from this lineage are found ...
This is a large-bodied, relatively heavy race, but differs from more westerly hawks in having a relatively smaller wing area. Based on linear dimensions, this subspecies shows the most size variation and, unlike the red-tailed hawk species overall, size variation seems to fall within Bergmann's rule as northern birds average larger than southern ones.
The Alaska red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis alascensis) is a subspecies of red-tailed hawk that breeds (and is probably resident) from southeastern coastal Alaska to Haida Gwaii (previously Queen Charlotte Islands) and Vancouver Island in British Columbia. [1] Despite its northerly distribution, this is the second smallest of the red-tailed ...