Ferruginous Hawk Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesFerruginous Hawk
Adult light morph
Large buteo with broad wings that are pointed at the tips. In flight the head appears rather large. Light morph birds have white belly with rusty feathered legs that form a V above the white tail.
© Ian Davies / Macaulay LibraryNevada, May 28, 2020Light morph
Usually found alone or in pairs in open-country where they often perch on power poles.
© Tom Johnson / Macaulay LibraryArizona, January 01, 2014Not all videos have sound
Adult light morph
Flies on broad wings with narrow tips. From above note white streaks in primaries, pale tail, chestnut back, and big-headed look.
© Jerry Liguori / Macaulay LibraryUtah, December 11, 2016Adult light morph
Flies with stiff, shallow wingbeats. Light morphs are very pale below with chestnut back and pale head.
© Jerry Liguori / Macaulay LibraryUtah, November 26, 2010Light morph
Soars on broad wings often held in a slight dihedral with its head held down.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryDecember 01, 1997Not all videos have sound
Adult dark morph
The rarer dark morph has a chestnut belly and inner wing linings. The tail and flight feathers are white.
© Jerry Ting / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, September 28, 2019Juveniles
Young stay in the nest for 38–50 days before fledging.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryMontana, July 01, 2000Not all videos have sound
Adult dark morph
A small percent of the population is dark brown to chestnut above and below with a white tail. In flight, primaries and secondaries are also white. Note feathered legs.
© Chris Wood / Macaulay LibraryColorado, January 10, 2016Light morph
Light morph birds are very pale below.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryNew Mexico, December 01, 1997Not all videos have sound
Juvenile light morph
Often seen on the ground where it hunts gophers, ground squirrels, and rabbits in grassland, prairie, sagebrush steppe, scrubland, and pinyon-juniper woodland edges in western North America.
© Wolfe R / Macaulay LibraryColorado, September 21, 2018Similar SpeciesRed-tailed Hawk
Adult light morph (abieticola)
Red-tailed Hawks have shorter, more rounded wings than Ferruginous Hawks. Red-tailed Hawks also have a belly band of dark streaks, unlike the Ferruginous Hawk's pale or rusty-streaked underparts.
© Brian Sullivan / Macaulay LibraryOklahoma, March 01, 2012Similar SpeciesRed-tailed Hawk
Juvenile light morph (calurus/alascensis)
Red-tailed Hawks have broad wings that seem to bulge out from the body, unlike Ferruginous's long, tapered wings. Also note Red-tailed's dark "patagium" or line along the front of the wing from shoulder to wrist.
© Alex Lamoreaux / Macaulay LibraryIdaho, June 08, 2011Similar SpeciesSwainson's Hawk
Adult light morph
Swainson's Hawks have a similar shape to Ferruginous Hawks, but have a very different color pattern with a brown upper breast, two-toned wings with dark flight feathers, and a dark band at the tail tip. Light morph Ferruginous Hawks are more uniformly pale underneath.
© Steven Mlodinow / Macaulay LibraryColorado, May 31, 2017Similar SpeciesSwainson's Hawk
Juvenile light morph
Young Swainson's Hawks are more variable than adults, but they still differ from Ferruginous Hawks by their two-toned underwings and dark head and breast.
© Chris Wood / Macaulay LibraryMasaya, February 21, 2016Similar SpeciesSwainson's Hawk
Adult dark morph
Dark-morph Swainson's Hawks are variable in color but usually have a reddish wash on the underwing coverts and pale undertail coverts, while dark-morph Ferruginous Hawks are mostly dark below with pale flight feathers and tail.
© Ed Harper / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, April 03, 2017Similar SpeciesSwainson's Hawk
Juvenile dark morph
Juvenile dark morph Swainson's Hawks usually have buffy streaking on the body and lack the white flight feathers and tail of dark-morph Ferruginous Hawks.
© Kirk Swenson / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, August 06, 2016Similar SpeciesRough-legged Hawk
Adult male light morph
Male Rough-legged Hawks are slimmer than Ferruginous Hawks. They have large, dark patches at the wrist, extensive markings on the breast, and a dark band at the tip of the tail, whereas light-morph Ferruginous Hawks have pale underparts.
© Bryce Robinson / Macaulay LibraryWyoming, February 05, 2017Similar SpeciesRough-legged Hawk
Immature light morph
Rough-legged Hawks are slimmer than Ferruginous Hawks. They have large, dark patches at the wrist, a large black belly patch, and a dark tip to the tail, whereas light-morph Ferruginous Hawks have pale underparts.
© Rodney Crice / Macaulay LibraryKentucky, December 10, 2013Similar SpeciesRough-legged Hawk
Juvenile light morph
Young Rough-legged Hawks are brown rather than rusty on the back like Ferruginous Hawks.
© Chris S. Wood / Macaulay LibraryConnecticut, January 28, 2017Similar SpeciesRough-legged Hawk
Adult dark morph
Dark-morph Rough-legged Hawks have a similar color pattern to Ferruginous but a different shape, with a smaller head and slimmer body. Rough-legged Hawks have more black at the wingtips than dark-morph Ferruginous Hawks.
© Skye Haas / Macaulay LibraryMichigan, March 30, 2017Similar SpeciesTurkey Vulture
Adult (Northern)
Turkey Vultures have smaller heads than Ferruginous Hawks and a more unstable flight style as they teeter or wobble back and forth on the wing.
© Matt Davis / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, January 01, 2017Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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Species in This Family
Hawks, Eagles, and Kites(Order: Accipitriformes, Family: Accipitridae)
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