Missouri is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including several species of hawks. These majestic birds of prey are known for their keen eyesight, powerful talons, and impressive hunting skills.
If you’re interested in learning more about the hawks that can be found in Missouri, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will explore the 9 types of hawks that call Missouri home.
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From the Northern Goshawk to the Rough-legged Hawk, we’ll take a closer look at each species and provide some interesting facts about these fascinating birds. So, let’s get started and discover the 9 types of hawks in Missouri.
9 Types Of Hawks In Missouri
Northern Goshawk
The Northern Goshawk is one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. These birds of prey are known for their large size and powerful talons, which they use to hunt a variety of prey, including other birds, mammals, and reptiles.
Adult Northern Goshawks are dark slate gray with pale gray underparts. They are typically found in mature forests, where they build their nests in the branches of tall trees.
While they are not considered endangered, populations in southwestern mountains may be threatened or endangered by loss of habitat. In Missouri, the Northern Goshawk is not as common as some of the other hawk species, such as the Red-tailed Hawk and the Red-shouldered Hawk. However, they can still be spotted in the state, particularly in areas with large tracts of forest.
Swainson’s Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk is one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. These hawks have a breeding range only in the northwestern corner of Missouri and can frequently be seen during the summer and warmer months. They are slim and graceful hawks that are a common sight over grasslands of the Great Plains and the west.
Swainson’s Hawks are known for their distinctive plumage, which includes a dark brown back, a white chest, and a cinnamon-colored belly. They are skilled at catching flying insects in the air and may concentrate near grass fires, watching for prey driven into the open by the flames.
While Swainson’s Hawks are very rare in Missouri, they have been seen in the west of the state, along the borders of Kansas from April to September.
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is one of the most common hawks in North America and is one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri.
These birds of prey breed throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. They are known for their broad, rounded wings and short, wide tail, which are typical of the Buteo genus.
Red-tailed Hawks are sexually dimorphic, with females being about 25% heavier than males. They are one of the largest members of the Buteo genus, 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).
Red-tailed Hawks are adaptable birds that can acclimate to all the biomes within their range, occurring on the edges of non-ideal habitats such as dense forests and sandy deserts. They occupy a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas.
Red-tailed Hawks are carnivorous and primarily eat rodents and rabbits, with reptiles and birds rounding out their diet. They are also known for their thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound.
Red-shouldered Hawk
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Red-shouldered Hawk is a medium-sized buteo and one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. These hawks are forest raptors and are found 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.
Red-shouldered Hawks are not exclusively birds of deep forest, though; they can also be found in some suburban areas where houses or other buildings are mixed into woodlands. These 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. When in clearings, they sometimes fly high and then drop to surprise prey.
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. They are known for their distinctive whistle, which is conspicuous, especially in spring.
Red-shouldered Hawks are noticeably smaller than a Red-tailed Hawk but larger than a Broad-winged Hawk. They have broad, rounded wings and medium-length tails that they fan out when soaring. In flight, they often glide or soar with their wingtips pushed slightly forward, imparting a distinctive, “reaching” posture.
Red-shouldered Hawks are divided into five subspecies, with the northern form being the largest. The oldest-known Red-shouldered hawk was a female, and at least 25 years, 10 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2000.
Northern Harrier
The Northern Harrier, also known as the Marsh Hawk or Ring-tailed Hawk, is one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. These birds of prey breed throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA. They are known for their slim, long-tailed appearance and are often seen gliding low over a marsh or grassland, holding their wings in a V-shape.
Northern Harriers are sexually dimorphic, with males weighing 290 to 400 g (10 to 14 oz), with an average of 350 g (12 oz), and females weighing 390 to 750 g (14 to 26 oz), with an average of 530 g (19 oz). They have a flat, owl-like face and a small, sharply hooked bill.
Northern Harriers are typically found in prairies, open areas, and marshes, and they hunt primarily small mammals, such as voles, cotton rats, and ground squirrels. They are known for their disk-shaped face, which looks and functions much like an owl’s, with stiff facial feathers helping to direct sound to the ears.
During migration in the fall and spring, Northern Harriers can also be seen high in the sky over mountain ridges and coastlines.
Cooper’s Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk and one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri.
These hawks are native to the North American continent and can be found from southern Canada to Mexico. They are members of the genus Accipiter, which are famously agile, relatively small hawks common to wooded habitats around the world and also the most diverse of all diurnal raptor genera.
Cooper’s Hawks have a classic accipiter shape, with broad, rounded wings and a very long tail. The head often appears large, the shoulders broad, and the tail rounded. They are larger than a Sharp-shinned Hawk and about crow-sized, but males can be much smaller. Adult Cooper’s Hawks are gray above with pale orange barring below, while immatures are browner.
These hawks are known for their ability to hunt large and evasive prey using extremely well-developed agility, which is reflected in their common names, including big blue darter, chicken hawk, flying cross, hen hawk, quail hawk, striker, and swift hawk.
Cooper’s Hawks are found in mature forest, open woodlands, wood edges, and river groves, and they nest in coniferous, deciduous, and mixed woods, typically those with tall trees and with openings or edge habitat nearby. They are known to feed mostly on birds and small mammals, hunting by stealth, approaching their prey through dense cover and then pouncing.
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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 in a tree, either deciduous or coniferous, usually 25-50′ above ground, and is a bulky structure of sticks, lined with softer material such as strips of bark.
Sharp-shinned Hawk
The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. Here are some interesting facts about this bird of prey:
– Sharp-shinned Hawks are the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, with males being the smallest hawks in North America.
– They are agile fliers that speed through dense woods to surprise their prey, typically songbirds.
– Sharp-shinned Hawks are small, long-tailed hawks with short, rounded wings. 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.
– Sharp-shinned Hawks are found in pine, fir, and aspen forests, among others, and can be found hunting in forest interior and edges from sea level to near alpine areas.
– They can also be found near rural, suburban, and agricultural areas, where they often hunt at bird feeders.
– Sharp-shinned Hawks often hunt from a perch and dart out from hiding to catch prey. Their long, sharp talons help them to grab onto prey, and their short bursts of high-speed flight help them to catch their prey.
– They are opportunistic hunters and pluck their prey before eating them.
– Sharp-shinned Hawks are protected under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and are listed as Appendix II under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Broad-winged Hawk
The Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) is a medium-sized hawk of the genus Buteo and one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. Here are some interesting facts about this bird of prey:
Identification:
– Broad-winged Hawks are small, compact raptors with chunky bodies and large heads.
– In flight, their broad wings come to a distinct point, and the tail is short and square.
– They are slightly smaller than a Red-shouldered Hawk and about crow-sized.
– Adults are solid brown above, barred reddish-brown below with bold black-and-white tail bands.
– Immatures are similar, but with blotchier markings below and thin, diffuse tail bands.
– They are known for their distinctive shape in flight, with a short tail, straight leading edge of wing, and bulging secondaries.
– During the breeding season, they emit a high-pitched, piercing whistle coming from woodlands.
Range and Habitat:
– During the summer, some subspecies of Broad-winged Hawks are distributed over eastern North America, as far west as British Columbia and Texas.
– Other subspecies are all-year residents on Caribbean islands.
– They are birds of the forest interior and can be hard to see during the nesting season.
– Broad-winged Hawks are most easily seen during migration at hawkwatches such as Hawk Ridge, Minnesota, and Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania.
– They are most commonly found in eastern or northern forests during summer.
– They are known to form massive flocks called kettles during migration, when they travel from the U.S. and Canada all the way to winter in Central and South America.
Behavior and Diet:
– Broad-winged Hawks hunt by watching for prey from a perch, usually located along the edge of woods or near water.
– When prey is spotted, the hawk swoops down rapidly to capture the creature in its talons.
– Occasionally, they hunt by flying through the woods or along watercourses, actively searching for prey.
– Their diet includes small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, large insects, crayfish, fish, centipedes, and earthworms.
– Early in the breeding season, pairs circle high in the air, calling.
– The nest site is usually in the lower part of a large tree (either deciduous or coniferous), typically 25-40′ above ground.
– The nest (built by both sexes) is a rather small platform of sticks, lined with softer materials such as bark and moss.
Rough-legged Hawk
The Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) is a medium-large bird of prey and one of the 9 types of hawks that can be found in Missouri. Here are some interesting facts about this bird of prey:
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 also 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, and the legs are feathered all the way to the toes.
– The plumage of Rough-legged Hawks is variable, ranging from completely dark morphs to much lighter morphs.
– Light morphs are generally pale with a dark belly and dark patches on the “wrists,” while dark morphs have a brown or blackish body with a finely banded tail and striking white flight feathers.
Range and Habitat:
– Rough-legged Hawks are found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Russia during the breeding season and migrate south for the winter.
– They are the most northern of all buteos and one of the most common of all arctic raptors.
– In North America, Rough-legged Hawks typically breed in the open tundra and semi-open taiga of Alaska and Canada, and their breeding range can extend south into boreal regions in years when prey are abundant.
– During the winter, they can be found in open fields, plains, marshes, and other open country, including grasslands, coastal prairies, farmland, and dunes.
Behavior and Diet:
– Rough-legged Hawks hunt by hovering over fields, watching for movement below, or by watching from a perch or patrolling low over the ground.
– Their diet includes rodents, such as lemmings and voles, and many birds, such as snow buntings, Lapland longspurs, and American tree sparrows.
– During high population cycles, lemmings may be more than 80% of their summer diet.
– Rough-legged Hawks are known for their cliffside nests, which are a bulky mass of sticks that sometimes contain caribou bones.
– Nesting pairs need a lot of space, and usually only a single pair will nest on a quarter-mile-long cliff.
– Rough-legged Hawks are protected under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and are listed as Appendix II under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
FAQS
1. What are the 9 types of hawks in Missouri?
The 9 types of hawks in Missouri are the Northern Goshawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, and Rough-legged Hawk.
2. Which is the most common hawk species in Missouri?
The most common hawk species in Missouri are the Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Northern Harrier.
3. What is the size of a Sharp-shinned Hawk?
Sharp-shinned Hawks are the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, with males being the smallest hawks in North America.
4. What is the diet of a Broad-winged Hawk?
The diet of a Broad-winged Hawk includes small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, large insects, crayfish, fish, centipedes, and earthworms.
5. Where can Rough-legged Hawks be found during the winter?
During the winter, Rough-legged Hawks can be found in open fields, plains, marshes, and other open country, including grasslands, coastal prairies, farmland, and dunes.
6. What is the nesting behavior of Rough-legged Hawks?
Rough-legged Hawks are known for their cliffside nests, which are a bulky mass of sticks that sometimes contain caribou bones.
7. Are hawks in Missouri protected?
Yes, hawks in Missouri are protected under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and are listed as Appendix II under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
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Category: Birds
