Red-shouldered Hawk
Buteo lineatus
Red-shouldered Hawks will come back to same area every year and usually same nest. Story has it that one lived in a territory every year for 16 years in south California.
Both male and female will build each nest or freshen up a previous year’s nest.
The American Crow will often attack this hawk, however payback has been known to happen. They have a rivalry at which they take food from each other and take after each other. And both will team up to chase a Great Horned Owl out of their area.
When they reach 5 days old, these nestling hawks are able to shoot their poop out of their nest. If you find the poop on the ground you know that an active nest is around.
The Red-shouldered Hawk has 5 subspecies. The 4 forms in the eastern USA reach out to each other, however the western form are over a 1000 miles away. Largest is the northern form. The southern Florida form is the palest, having a gray head.
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They live in bottom land hardwood stands in the eastern USA. Also in deciduous swamps, and conifer forests.
They hunt and kill other animals in the forests. These hawks eat mostly small mammals, amphibians, lizards and snakes.
Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus