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.
© Bob MacDonnell / Macaulay LibraryConnecticut, February 14, 2013Adult (lineatus group)
Medium-sized hawk with slim shape, small head, and fairly long tail. Adults are rich reddish-brown on the chest.
© Eric Keith / Macaulay LibraryNorth Carolina, November 25, 2017Adult (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.
© Tom Johnson / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, January 06, 2014Not all videos have soundAdult (lineatus group)
Eastern adults have richly marked upperparts, with a mix of black, rufous, and white. Long black tail has narrow white bands.
© Brad Imhoff / Macaulay LibraryOhio, November 03, 2019Immature (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.
© Jeremiah Trimble / Macaulay LibraryMassachusetts, February 02, 2019Adult
Note broad wings, short tail, and translucent crescents near the tips of the wings. Typically soars holding wings slightly forward of perpendicular.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryMissouri, February 23, 1998Not all videos have soundImmature (lineatus group)
Juveniles are brownish above with brown streaking on whitish underparts.
© Cynthia King / Macaulay LibraryNew York, October 11, 2020Immature (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.
© Gordon Dimmig / Macaulay LibraryPennsylvania, August 18, 2011Adult
A hawk of woodland habitats. Adults have reddish barred chest, broad bars on the tail, and black-and-white checkered wings.
© Timothy Barksdale / Macaulay LibraryMissouri, January 28, 1998Not all videos have soundImmature (lineatus group)
In flight, note fairly long tail, square-tipped wings, and bright, translucent crescents in the outer wing.
© Graham Gerdeman / Macaulay LibraryTennessee, December 30, 2020Adult (extimus)
In Florida, adults have pale gray heads and light orange-brown barring on the underparts.
© Ad Konings / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, January 17, 2020Adult 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.
© Larry Arbanas / Macaulay LibraryTexas, April 19, 2008Not all videos have soundImmature (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.
© Marie Chappell / Macaulay LibraryFlorida, March 27, 2017Adult (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.
© Blake Matheson / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, September 24, 2020Adult (elegans)
Adults in the "elegans" group, found from Oregon to Baja California, have a solid orange breast, lacking the breast barring of Eastern adults.
© Herb Elliott / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, December 08, 2019Immature (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.
© Blake Matheson / Macaulay LibraryCalifornia, September 19, 2017Habitat
Lives in forests, particularly bottomland forests and swamps, but also open upland forests and wooded suburbs.
© David Rudder / Macaulay LibraryMissouri, October 04, 2017Compare with Similar Species
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Species in This Family
Hawks, Eagles, and Kites(Order: Accipitriformes, Family: Accipitridae)
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