Kentucky is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including several species of hawks. These birds of prey are known for their keen eyesight, powerful talons, and impressive hunting skills.
In this article, we will explore the different types of hawks found in Kentucky. While the exact number and types of hawks may vary depending on the source, we will focus on the most commonly mentioned species, including the Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, and Ferruginous Hawk.
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By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of the different types of hawks that call Kentucky home.
8 Types Of Hawks In Kentucky
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. Here are some key facts about the Red-tailed Hawk based on the search results:
Identification:
– Red-tailed Hawks are large hawks with typical Buteo proportions: very broad, rounded wings and a short, wide tail.
– They are one of the largest members of the genus Buteo, typically weighing from 690 to 1,600 g (1.5 to 3.5 lb) and measuring 45–65 cm (18–26 in) in length, with a wingspan from 110–141 cm (3 ft 7 in – 4 ft 8 in).
– This species displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.
– The adult is brown above with rusty streaks and white below, and its legs are feathered to the toes.
Habitat and Behavior:
– Red-tailed Hawks occupy a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas.
– They are generalist predators that typically prey on small to medium-sized reptiles, birds, and mammals up to the size of jackrabbits.
– Red-tailed Hawks hunt from a perch or while soaring over open country, woodlands, prairie groves, mountains, plains, roadsides, and any kind of terrain that provides both some open ground for hunting and some high perches.
– They are known for their thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound.
– Red-tailed Hawks are summer residents throughout most of central and southern Canada and the United States, and they are one of the most commonly observed birds of prey in all of North America.
Other Facts:
– Red-tailed Hawks are sometimes referred to as the “chickenhawk,” though they rarely prey on standard-sized chickens.
– The Red-tailed Hawk has a brick-red tail, and the variety with this tail is the one that gives the species its name.
– Red-tailed Hawks often mate for life, and the pair makes a stick nest in a tree, high above the ground.
– The female hawk lays one to five eggs, which are white with brown spots, and the parents take turns sitting on the eggs, keeping them warm and safe.
– Baby Red-tailed Hawks are covered with white, downy feathers, and the hawk parents feed their young until the young birds can leave the nest, usually when they’re about six weeks old.
Cooper’s Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk is a medium-sized hawk species that is found in Kentucky. Once thought to be averse to towns and cities, Cooper’s Hawks are now fairly common urban and suburban birds. They are known for their remarkable aerial skills and are among the bird world’s most skillful fliers.
Cooper’s Hawks feed mostly on birds and small mammals, and they hunt by stealth, approaching their prey through dense cover and then surprising them with a burst of speed. In courtship, both sexes may fly over territory with slow, exaggerated wingbeats, and the male feeds the female for up to a month before she begins laying eggs.
The nest site is usually in a tree, either deciduous or coniferous, usually 25-50′ above ground, and often placed on top of some pre-existing foundation, such as an old nest of a large bird or squirrel, or clump of mistletoe.
The nest is a bulky structure of sticks, lined with softer material such as strips of bark, and is probably built by both sexes. Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high-speed pursuit of other birds.
Broad-winged Hawk
The Broad-winged Hawk is a small, stocky raptor with black-and-white bands on the tail. This species is a bird of the forest interior and can be hard to see during the nesting season. According to some sources, the Broad-winged Hawk is one of the species of hawks found in Kentucky.
These hawks are known for their high-pitched whistling calls, which are often heard during migration. Broad-winged Hawks feed on small mammals, reptiles, and birds, and they hunt by perching in a tree and then swooping down to catch their prey.
During courtship, the male performs aerial displays, including steep dives and soaring flights, to impress the female. The nest is usually built in a deciduous tree, 20-60 feet above the ground, and is made of sticks, twigs, and bark strips.
The female lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated for about a month. The young fledge after about 4 weeks and are dependent on their parents for several more weeks.
Red-shouldered Hawk
The Red-shouldered Hawk is a medium-sized buteo species that is found in Kentucky. These forest raptors live in bottomland hardwood stands, flooded deciduous swamps, and upland mixed deciduous-conifer forests. They tend to live in stands with an open subcanopy, which makes hunting easier.
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Red-shouldered Hawks search for prey while perched on a treetop or soaring over woodlands. When they sight prey, they kill it by dropping directly onto it from the air. They may cache food near their nest for later consumption.
Red-shouldered Hawks have very good vision and reasonably good sense of hearing, with talons capable of killing animals as big as their own size.
These hawks are known for their distinctive whistle, which is one of the best ways to find them in and around wet forests, where they may be hunting from a perch along a stream or pond.
The Red-shouldered Hawk is typically a sign of tall woods and water, and it is one of the most distinctively marked common hawks, with barred reddish-peachy underparts and a strongly banded tail. In flight, translucent crescents near the wingtips help to identify the species at a distance.
Red-shouldered Hawks feed on prey ranging from mice to frogs and snakes. They usually hunt by watching from a perch, either within the forest or in the open, swooping down when they locate prey.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
The Sharp-shinned Hawk, also known as the Northern sharp-shinned hawk, is a small hawk species that is found in Kentucky. These hawks are agile fliers that speed through dense woods to surprise their prey, typically songbirds. They have distinctive proportions, with long legs, short wings, and very long tails, which they use for navigating their deep-woods homes at top speed.
Sharp-shinned Hawks are small, long-tailed hawks with short, rounded wings, and they have small heads that in flight do not always project beyond the “wrists” of the wings.
Females are considerably larger than males, approaching the size of a male Cooper’s Hawk. These hawks feed mainly on birds captured in flight and often stalk feeders in search of prey.
They hunt mostly by perching inside foliage and waiting for small birds to approach, or by approaching stealthily through dense cover, then bursting forth with incredibly swift flight to capture prey in their talons.
Sharp-shinned Hawks are often confused with Cooper’s Hawks, and they are notoriously difficult to tell apart.
Northern Harrier
The Northern Harrier, also known as the Marsh Hawk or Ring-tailed Hawk, is a medium-sized raptor that breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA.
These hawks migrate south in winter, with breeding birds in Canada and northern Great Plains of the U.S. moving to the American south, Mexico, and Central America.
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In the midwestern, mountain west, and north Atlantic states of the U.S., they may be present all year. Northern Harriers inhabit prairies, open areas, and marshes. They are distinctive from a long distance away, with a slim, long-tailed hawk gliding low over a marsh or grassland, holding its wings in a V-shape.
Northern Harriers are slender, medium-sized raptors with long, fairly broad wings and a long, rounded tail. They have a flat, owl-like face and a small, sharply hooked bill.
Harriers often fly with wings held in a V-shape, low over open fields and marshes, listening for rodents lurking below. Northern Harriers are the most owl-like of hawks, and they rely on hearing as well as vision to capture prey. They hunt mostly small mammals and small birds, but they are capable of taking bigger prey like rabbits and ducks.
Rough-legged Hawk
The Rough-legged Hawk, also known as the Rough-legged Buzzard, is a medium-large bird of prey that is found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Russia during the breeding season and migrates south for the winter.
Here are some key facts about the Rough-legged Hawk based on the search results:
Identification:
– Rough-legged Hawks are fairly large hawks with broad wings that are fairly long and narrow compared to other Buteo hawks.
– The tail is longer than in many other buteos, and the wingtips are broad and often swept back slightly from the wrist, giving a hint of an M shape to the wing.
– The bill is fairly small.
– Rough-legged Hawks are larger than an American Crow but slightly smaller and less bulky than a Red-tailed Hawk.
– They have a wingspan of 52.0-54.3 inches and a length of 18.5-20.5 inches.
Habitat and Behavior:
– Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of North America, Europe, and Asia.
– They are found in open areas like fields, marshes, and tundra escarpments.
– Rough-legged Hawks hunt by hovering over fields, watching for movement below, or by watching from a perch or patrolling low over the ground.
– They feed mostly on rodents, but they also eat birds and insects.
– Rough-legged Hawks are known for their feathered legs, which help conserve heat in their cold, northern habitats.
– They are solitary migrants that soar and alternately flap and glide while migrating.
Other Facts:
– Rough-legged Hawks are part of the family Accipitridae, which includes 224 species of hawks, eagles, vultures, harriers, and kites.
– The Rough-legged Hawk’s cliffside nest, a bulky mass of sticks, sometimes contains caribou bones.
– Rough-legged Hawks sometimes rob prey from other birds, including other Rough-legged Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels, and Common Ravens.
Ferruginous Hawk
The Ferruginous Hawk, also known as the Ferruginous Rough-leg, is a large bird of prey that belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. Here are some key facts about the Ferruginous Hawk based on the search results:
Identification:
– Ferruginous Hawks are the largest buteo hawks in North America, with a length of 20 to 28 inches and a wingspan of 4 to 5 feet.
– They have relatively long wings and large heads, and the wings narrow to form more pointed tips than is typical for other buteos.
– Ferruginous Hawks have short, dark, hooked beaks and extremely long, yellow gapes that extend to below the eye.
– The adult is brown above with rusty streaks and white below, and its legs are feathered to the toes.
– The sexes are similar in appearance.
Habitat and Behavior:
– Ferruginous Hawks are found in prairies, deserts, and open range of the West.
– They hunt from a lone tree, rock outcrop, or from high in the sky.
– Ferruginous Hawks rely primarily on ground squirrels, jackrabbits, pocket gophers, prairie dogs, and kangaroo rats for food.
– They tend to hunt in early morning or late afternoon.
– Ferruginous Hawks may nest in close proximity to each other, less than a half a mile away, and they select rocky outcrops, hillsides, rock pinnacles, or trees for nest sites.
– Nests may be built right on the ground and are built of large twigs or roots, grasses, old bones, or cow or horse dung.
– Both the male and female participate in nest building, followed by the laying and incubation of three or four eggs that are laid at two-day intervals.
– The young hatch between February and July after about 28 days of incubation, and leave the nest 38 to 50 days later.
Other Facts:
– Ferruginous Hawks are well-regarded falconry birds, though not recommended for beginners due to their large size, power, and aggressive personality.
– They are faster and stronger than the Red-tailed Hawk and are effective in pursuit of larger hares and jackrabbits that are difficult prey for the Red-tailed Hawk and Harris’s Hawk.
– Ferruginous Hawks are effective on large bird species as well and are more agile than the Golden Eagle.
– The Ferruginous Hawk is now considered common and is afforded no special conservation status, but it has declined seriously over most of its range.
FAQS
1. How many types of hawks are found in Kentucky?
The exact number of hawks found in Kentucky may vary depending on the source, but most sources mention between 7 and 9 species of hawks in Kentucky.
2. What are the most common types of hawks found in Kentucky?
The most commonly mentioned species of hawks found in Kentucky include the Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Harrier, and Rough-legged Hawk.
3. What do hawks eat?
Hawks are carnivorous birds of prey that feed on a variety of prey, including small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects. The specific diet of a hawk species may vary depending on its habitat and location.
4. Where can I spot hawks in Kentucky?
Hawks can be found in a variety of habitats in Kentucky, including forests, fields, marshes, and open areas. The best places to spot hawks in Kentucky may vary depending on the species, but some good spots to look include state parks, wildlife refuges, and nature preserves.
5. Are hawks endangered in Kentucky?
Most species of hawks found in Kentucky are not considered endangered, but some species may be threatened or declining in certain areas. It is important to respect the natural habitats of these birds and avoid disturbing their nests or hunting grounds.
6. How can I attract hawks to my backyard?
Hawks are wild birds and should not be kept as pets or attracted to backyard feeders. However, you can create a bird-friendly backyard habitat that may attract a variety of bird species, including hawks. Providing food, water, and shelter can help create a welcoming environment for birds.
Source: https://petstutorial.com
Category: Birds
