Buteo lineatus                                                        Photo Chris Burney ©

This forest hawk has broad wings and a relatively long tail.  Adults have a brown head and back and reddish underparts, streaked with dark brown. 

Red-shouldered hawks are territorial and monogamous; both sexes build the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the young. Their distinctive, screaming kee-aah call is often heard around the breeding territory.  They are sit-and-wait hunters, using perches as vantage points from which to dive onto prey. Their diet consists of rabbits, squirrels and other small mammals. They also eat snakes, frogs and lizards.

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