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Scientific
name:
Buteo brachyurus |
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Family name:
Accipitridae |
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Are they endangered? No,
they are not endangered worldwide. (IUCN Redlist:
Least concern) |
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What are their past/present problems?
Something that threatens Short-tailed Hawks is logging.
Logging is where people come into a forest and cut down
trees for their wood. Areas with lots of trees are
where the Short-tailed Hawks like to live. So they have
to leave when the trees are cut down. |
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What do they look like? There
are light and dark kinds. The dark morph has a dark
brown back and belly. Its wings are a lighter color
underneath. The light morph looks the same except for
its white underside. Both kinds have white tail
feathers with bars of black on them. Their feet and
legs are yellow. |
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How big are they?
They are about 16” long. If their wings were spread
out, they would be about 35 inches (close to 3 feet)
wide. |
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How many eggs do they lay?
The female lays 2-3 off-white eggs once a year. The
eggs hatch in about a month. |
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How long do the
fledglings stay in the nest?
These hawks build nests out of twigs, branches with
leaves, and moss. The nest could be as high as 100 feet
or as low as 8 feet off the ground. They usually make a
new nest each year. They stay in the nest about 40 days
before flying. |
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When do they hunt?
They hunt during the day (diurnal).
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What do they eat?
They swoop down from the sky to get their prey. Prey can be
snakes, small birds, MICE, insects, or lizards |
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Where do they live? These
birds live in Florida & Arizona (U.S.), Mexico, Central America,
and South America. |
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What kind of place do
they like to live in? They
like swamps, open fields, edges of forests. They like cypress
trees. |
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Interesting facts:
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The Florida and Central American Short-tailed Hawks are
migratory. |
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Short-tailed Hawks are small like crows but their nests
are big. The nests are about 2 feet across. |
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They spend a lot of time in the air, using the wind
currents to save energy. |
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