Red-shouldered Hawk Photo Gallery

Adult (lineatus group)

Medium-sized hawk with slim body and fairly long tail. Wings are broad and somewhat square at the tips when soaring. Adults have extensively reddish brown underparts. Tail and flight feathers are banded black and white.

Adult (lineatus group)

Medium-sized hawk with slim shape, small head, and fairly long tail. Adults are rich reddish-brown on the chest.

Adult (extimus)

Medium-sized hawk with fine reddish barring on breast and black-and-white checkered wings. The Florida form (extimus) has a paler head and breast than other forms.

Adult (lineatus group)

Immature (lineatus group)

Juveniles are more flat brown than adults, with variable dark streaking on the underparts. They lack the adult's strong black-and-white patterning on the flight feathers.

Adult

Note broad wings, short tail, and translucent crescents near the tips of the wings. Typically soars holding wings slightly forward of perpendicular.

Immature (lineatus group)

Note fairly long tail, slim body, and squared-off wings with translucent crescents at the tips. Immatures of the eastern subspecies have narrow brown-on-white bands on the tail and flight feathers.

Adult

A hawk of woodland habitats. Adults have reddish barred chest, broad bars on the tail, and black-and-white checkered wings.

Immature (lineatus group)

In flight, note fairly long tail, square-tipped wings, and bright, translucent crescents in the outer wing.

Adult (extimus)

In Florida, adults have pale gray heads and light orange-brown barring on the underparts.

Adult at nest

Breeds in wooded areas, where pairs build stick nests usually in a crotch in the main trunk of a deciduous tree. This video has no audio.

Immature (extimus)

Immatures from Florida have heavier brown streaking on the breast than on the belly. The flight feathers and the tail have narrow bands of brown and white, more subtle than the black-and-white patterning of adults.

Adult (elegans)

Slim, medium-sized hawk. The California subspecies is rich reddish-orange on the breast, head, and shoulders. The wings are strongly patterned black-and-white, and the tail has strong bands.

Adult (elegans)

Immature (elegans)

Note fairly long tail, slim body, and squared-off wings with translucent crescents at the tips. Immatures of the California subspecies have dark patterning on the wings and strongly banded tails, in addition to brown streaks on the breast.