Short-tailed Hawk

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Short-tailed Hawk

	Scientific name: Buteo brachyurus
	Family name: Accipitridae
	Are they endangered? No, they are not endangered worldwide. (IUCN Redlist: Least concern)
	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.
	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.

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.

How many eggs do they lay? The female lays 2-3 off-white eggs once a year. The eggs hatch in about a month.

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.

When do they hunt? They hunt during the day (diurnal).

What do they eat? They swoop down from the sky to get their prey. Prey can be snakes, small birds, MICE, insects, or lizards

Where do they live? These birds live in Florida & Arizona (U.S.), Mexico, Central America, and South America.

What kind of place do they like to live in? They like swamps, open fields, edges of forests. They like cypress trees.

Interesting facts:

	The Florida and Central American Short-tailed Hawks are migratory.
	Short-tailed Hawks are small like crows but their nests are big. The nests are about 2 feet across.
	They spend a lot of time in the air, using the wind currents to save energy.