Mindblowing Planet Earth

Friday 20 September 2019

Eastern Box Turtle Care (box turtles)

Order Testudines, Family Emydidae

Box turtles are the most terrestrial of the Emydid turtles, having close-fitting shells that have allowed them to adapt well to terrestrial life. They are found throughout the eastern and central United States and into the southwest. They are omnivorous. Eastern Box turtles are also known as box tortoises, currently, four recognized species of box turtles.

Eastern Box Turtle Facts

The eastern box turtle (Terrapene Carolina carolina) ranges from northeastern Massachusetts to Georgia, west to Michigan, Illinois, and Tennessee. Also, they prefer the water, but are not improved for swimming in water. Box Turtles can roam up to one mile in a year. The main roads are a major deadly hazard for these slow-moving creatures.

Also, aggressive exotics smother their food plants. Raccoons and crows, though native, are major predators of young turtles. Also, lawnmowers get injure and kill box turtles. There are four subspecies of T. Carolina. All found within the eastern United States.

· T. c. carolina, T. c. major (Gulf Coast box turtle; the largest subspecies, restricted to the Gulf Coast).

· T. c. triunguis (three-toed box turtle; Missouri to south-central Alabama and Texas).

· T. c. bauri (Florida box turtle; restricted to the Florida peninsula and keys.

Body Size

The eastern box turtle is small, with adults ranging from 11.5 to 15.2 cm in length and approximately 300 to over 400 g. Hatchlings weigh approximately 8 to 10 g. Turtles continue to grow throughout their lives.

However, their growth rate slows after reaching sexual maturity. The growth rings are no longer discernible after 18 to 20 years. Therefore, the body fat reserves in a Georgia population-averaged 0.058 to 0.060 g of fat per gram of lean dry weight from spring through fall.

Where do Eastern Box Turtles Live?

Typical box turtle habitats include open woodlands, thickets, and well-drained but moist forested areas. But occasionally pastures and marshy meadows are utilized. In areas with mixed woodlands and grasslands, box turtles use grassland areas in times of moderate temperatures and peak moisture conditions.

Otherwise, they tend to use moister forested habitats. Many turtles are killed attempting to crossroads, and fragmentation of habitat by roads can severely reduce populations. Eastern Box turtles tend to thrive best when they have let them leave alone. Various people illegally collect Eastern box turtles to breed in captivity to adopt as pets.

Eastern Box Turtle Diet

Most people want to know, what do eastern box turtles eat. Thus, adult T. carolinaare omnivorous when young, they are primarily carnivorous, but they become more herbivorous as they age and as growth slows. They consume a wide variety of animal material, including earthworms, slugs, snails, insects and their larvae (particularly grasshoppers, moths, and beetles), crayfish, frogs, toads, snakes, and carrion.

They also consume vegetable matter, including leaves, grass, berries, fruits, and fungi. A high proportion of snails and slugs may comprise the animal matter in the diet, and seeds can become an important component of the plant materials in the late summer and fall.

Temperature Regulation and Daily Activities

The species is diurnal and spends the night resting in a scooped depression or form that the turtle digs in the soil with its front feet T.carolinaare most active in temperate, humid weather. In the summer, they avoid high temperatures during midday by resting under logs or leaf litter, in mammal burrows, or by congregating in mud holes.

In the hottest weather, they may enter shaded shallow pools for hours or days. In the cooler temperatures, they may restrict their foraging activities to midday. In the laboratory, locomotion is maximal between 24 and 32C. In the field, their mean active body temperature is approximately 26C.

Hibernation

In the northern parts of its range (northeastern Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois), the eastern box turtle enters hibernation in late October or November and emerges in April. In Louisiana, it is found that T. c. major hibernated when temperatures fell below 65F. To hibernate, the box turtle burrows into loose soil and debris or mud of ponds or stream bottoms.

The South Carolina population of box turtles to occupy relatively shallow burrows (less than 4 cm) compared with those occupied by box turtles in colder regions (up to 46 cm). The hibernacula of box turtles in Tennessee are under 15.5 cm of leaf litter and 5.8 cm of soil on average. In southern states, during rainy and warm periods, box turtles may become active again. In Florida, the box turtle may be active all year.

Eastern Box Turtle Care?

Keep the Box Turtle it in an outdoor enclosure if the climate is often remaining above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Or keep in indoor glass tank which has at least 20 gallons of water. Moreover, soak from time to time to rehydrate and cool down the body of water that is large but shallow. Also, mist their living place several times daily with a spray bottle, to keep the humidity level high.

The Box turtles normally live for 25 to 35 years but in some cases, it is known to survive to over 100 years old. Moreover, if there are no woods on the roadside, then the best you can do is to find a small patch of woods as close to where the turtle was heading and reposition them there.

If anyone has Box Turtle as pets, then you must provide an adequate sun or artificial light to stay healthy along with a suitable diet. As Box Turtles are omnivores, so they need invertebrates, such as insects and worms, vegetable matter, leaves, fruits, and berries. Hence, it is very imperative to provide a varied diet in captivity to ensure good nutrition.

Breeding Activities and Social Organization

Box turtles are solitary except briefly during the mating season. Individuals restrict their activities to a foraging home range, but home ranges of different individuals can overlap substantially.

Mating usually occurs in the spring but may continue into fall, and eggs are laid in late spring and summer. The female digs a 3-to 4-inch cavity in sandy or loamy soil in which she deposits her eggs and then covers the nest with soil. Also, Box turtle eggs can be a very easy target for predators like raccoons.

Nests tend to be constructed several hundred meters from the female's foraging home range in the warmer and drier uplands. The duration of incubation depends on soil temperatures, and sometimes hatchlings overwinter in the nest. The young are semi aquatic but seldom seen.

Home Range and Resources

Measures of the foraging home range for box turtles range from .5 ha to just over 5 ha. A female may need to search for suitable nest site (e.g., slightly elevated sandy soils) outside of her foraging home range. Winter hibernacula tend to be within the foraging home range.

Population Density

Population density varies with habitat quality, but studies linking density to habitat characteristics are lacking. In some areas, population densities have declined steadily over the past several decades.

Some investigators attribute the decline to increasing habitat fragmentation and obstacles that prevent females from reaching or returning from appropriate nesting areas.

Population Dynamics

Sexual maturity is attained at about 4 or 5 years to 5 to 10 years of age. One to four clutches may be laid per year, depending on latitude. Eastern Box Turtle clutch size ranges from three to eight eggs, averaging three to four in some areas.

Juveniles generally comprise a small proportion of box turtle populations, for example, 18 to 25 percent in one population in Missouri. Some individual box turtles may live over 100 years.

Similar Species

The ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata) and the desert box turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola) are similar in size and habits to the eastern box turtle. They occur in the western, midwestern, and southern Midwestern states.

Preferred habitats include open prairies, pastureland, open woodlands, and waterways in arid, sandy-soil terrains. The ornate box turtle and desert box turtle forage primarily on insects but also on berries and carrion.

Are Eastern Box Turtles Endangered?

Eastern Box Turtles are not listed as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. However, in some cases, it is considered threatened by many conservationists due to Loss of habitat, collisions with traffic, and illegal trade has made the eastern box turtle scarce in some of its native ranges.

Hence in recent years their population has been in decline. The exclusive bright coloration shell makes it very special for animals’ lovers. The Eastern Box Turtles length is 4 to 8.5” with its carapace is high and dome-shaped. The shell is made of bone covered by living vascularized tissue and covered with a layer of keratin.

The strong shell is connected to the body through its fused rib cage which makes the shell enduringly attached and not detachable. However, when it gets injured or damaged, the shell has the capacity to regenerate and reform.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

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Thursday 19 September 2019

Marsh Wren (wrens)

Order Passeriformes, Family Troglodytidae

Wrens are small insectivorous birds that live in a variety of habitats throughout the United States. They have long, slender bills adapted for gleaning insects from the ground and vegetation. Most species are migratory, although some populations are year-round residents.

Marsh Wren Facts

The marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris) is a common bird inhabiting freshwater cattail marshes and salt marshes. Marsh wrens breed throughout most of the northern half of the United States and in coastal areas as far south as Florida. In winter they are in the southern United States and into Mexico, particularly in coastal areas.

Marsh wrens eat mostly insects, and occasionally snails, which they glean from the surface of vegetation. This species was formerly known as the long-billed marsh wren (Telmatodytes palustris).

Body Size

Although wrens are small (13 cm bill tip to tail tip; about 10 g body weight), males tend to be about 10 percent heavier than females. However, the body weight varies seasonally; in Georgia, where marsh wrens are resident throughout the year, they tend to be heavier in the spring and summer than in the fall and winter.

Habitat

Marsh wrens inhabit freshwater and saltwater marshes, usually nesting in association with bulrushes, cattails, and sedges or on occasion in mangroves. Standing water from several centimeters to nearly a meter is typical of the areas selected.

However, the permanent water is necessary to provide a food supply of insects necessary to maintain the birds and as a defense against predation. Deeper water and denser vegetation are associated with reduced predation rates.

Food Habits

Marsh wrens consume aquatic invertebrates, other insects, and spiders, which they glean from the water surface, on stems and leaves of emergent vegetation, and the marsh floor. They sometimes also feed by flycatching.

The insect orders most commonly taken include Coleoptera (both adults and larvae), Diptera (adults and larvae), Hemiptera (juveniles and adults), Lepidoptera (larvae most commonly fed to nestlings); and Odonata (newly emerged).

When feeding the young, at first the parents bring mosquito adults and larvae, midges, larval tipulids, and other small insects. As the young mature, the parents bring larger insects such as ground beetles, diving beetles, long-horned beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies, and sawflies to the nestlings.

In a population in Georgia, spiders (usually 1 to 3 mm in size, sometimes 12 to 15 mm), small crabs (5 to 7 mm), small snails (1 to 3 mm), and insect eggs also were consumed and fed to nestlings. Thus, organisms that are aquatic for all or part of their lives are an important component of the diet of marsh wren adults and nestlings.

Migration

Marsh wrens are year-round residents in some southern and coastal maritime regions where marshes do not freeze. Most migratory wrens breed throughout the northern half of the United States through southern Canada and winter in Mexico and the southern half of the United States.

Breeding activities and social organization.

Many populations of marsh wren are polygynous, with some males mating with two, occasionally three, females in a season. While the remaining males have one mate or remain bachelors. In a study found 5 to 11 percent bachelor males, 41 to 48 percent monogamous males, 37 to 43 percent bigamous males, and 5 to 12 percent trigamous males in two marshes in Manitoba, Canada.

Similarly, 16 percent bachelors, 57 percent monogamous, and 25 percent bigamous males in eastern Washington state. In contrast, the most males to be monogamous through 4 years of study in Georgia.

Marsh Wren Nest

Male birds arrive at the breeding marshes before the females to establish territories that include both nest sites and foraging areas. Males build several nests in their territories throughout the breeding season. The female usually only add lining material to a nest of her choice, although some may help construct the breeding nest.

Breeding nests are oblong in shape, with a side opening, and are woven of cattails, reeds, and grasses and lashed to standing vegetation, generally 30 cm to 1 m above standing water or high tide. Incubation lasts approximately 2 weeks, as does the nestling period.

After fledging, one or both parents continue to feed the young for about 12 days. Many populations typically rear two broods per year, although some may rear three. In the more monogamous populations, both parents regularly feed young, but in the more polygynous ones, the females may provide most of the food, with males assisting only toward the end of the nestling period.

Marsh Wren Range

Marshes smaller than 0.40 ha usually are not used by breeding marsh wrens. Average male territory size for a given year and location can range from 0.006 to 0.17 ha, depending on the habitat and conditions of the year. Also, there is a trend in polygynous populations for polygynous males to defend larger territories than monogamous males or males that end up as bachelors.

Population density. Because the species is polygynous, there may be more females than males inhabiting breeding marshes. Population density varies with the suitability and patchiness of the habitat. Densities as high as 120 adult birds per hectare have been recorded.

Clutch size and number of clutches per year vary with latitude and climate. In some populations, marsh wrens commonly destroy eggs and kill the nestlings of other pairs of their own species and other marsh-nesting passerines. Fledging success depends strongly on nest location; nests over deeper water are less vulnerable to predation.

Of nests lost to all causes, it has found 44 percent due to mammalian predators, 27 percent due to other wrens, 11 percent due to weather, 8 percent due to nest abandonment, and 13 percent unknown. The annual mortality of adults is lower than that of first-year birds. Both sexes of this species usually commence breeding in the first year following hatching.

Similar species

1. The sedge wren (Cistothorus platensis, formerly known as the short-billed marsh wren) nests locally in wet meadows or shallow sedge marshes and hayfields in the northeastern United States, wintering primarily in the southeastern United States. It is slightly smaller 11 cm than the marsh wren. None of the other wren species inhabit marshes, although all forage by gleaning insects from vegetation and other surfaces. Wrens that inhabit moist woodlands and open areas are listed below.

2. The house wren (Troglodytes aedon12 cm) breeds throughout most of the United States, into southern Canada. It inhabits open habitats with brush and shrubs and is found in orchards, farmyards, and urban gardens and parks.

3. The winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes10 cm) breeds in southern Canada, where it nests in dense brush, especially along moist coniferous woodlands. It winters primarily in the southeastern United States, where it inhabits many types of woodlands.

4. The Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus14 cm) is non-migratory and can be found in both summer and winter in the eastern United States as far north as northern Delaware and as far west as Oklahoma. It inhabits moist woodlands and swamps and wooded suburban areas.

5. Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii13 cm) is more common in western States than the house wren and is declining east of the Mississippi. It is found in brushland, stream edges, and open woods.

Read More – Rubby Kingfisher / The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron /

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Wednesday 18 September 2019

Belted Kingfisher (kingfishers)

Order Coraciiformes, Family Alcedinidae

The belted kingfisher (Cerylealcyon, formerly Megaceryle alcyon) is a medium-sized bird (33 cm bill tip to tail tip) that eats primarily fish. It is one of the few species of fish-eating birds found throughout inland areas as well as coastal areas. The belted kingfisher's range includes most of the North American continent.

It breeds from northern Alaska and central Labrador southward to the southern border of the United States. Two subspecies sometimes are recognized: the eastern belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyonalcyon), which occupies the range east of the Rocky Mountains and north to Quebec, and the western belted kingfisher (Cercyle alcyoncaurina), which occupies the remaining range to the west.

Kingfishers are stocky, short-legged birds with large heads and bills. They exist on a diet mostly of fish, which they catch by diving, from a perch or the air, headfirst into the water. They nest in burrows in earthen banks that they dig using their bills and feet.

Body Size

The belted kingfisher measures between 28 to 35 cm in length with a wingspan of between 48 to 58 cm and weigh from 113 to 178 g. The sexes are similar in size and appearance, although the female tends to be slightly larger. The western populations are somewhat larger than eastern ones. Nestlings reach adult body weight by about 16 days after hatching but then may lose some weight before fledging.

Habitat and Behavior

Belted kingfishers are typically found along rivers and streams and along lake and pond edges. They are also common on seacoasts and estuaries. They prefer waters that are free of thick vegetation that obscures the view of the water and water that is not completely overshadowed by trees.

Kingfishers also require relatively clear water to see their prey and are noticeably absent in areas when waters become turbid. That water less than 60 cm deep is preferred. They prefer stream riffles for foraging sites even when pools are more plentiful because of the concentration of fish at riffle edges. Belted kingfishers’ nest in burrows within steep earthen banks devoid of vegetation beside rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes.

They also have been found to nest in slopes created by human excavations such as roadcuts and landfills. Sandy soil banks, which are easy to excavate and provide good drainage, are preferred. In general, kingfishers’ nest near suitable fishing areas when possible but will nest away from water and feed in bodies of water other than the one closest to home.

Food Habits

Belted kingfishers generally feed on fish that swim near the surface or in shallow water. The kingfishers generally catch fish only in the upper 12 to 15 cm of the water column. Belted kingfishers capture fish by diving either from a perch overhanging the water or after hovering above the water.

Belted Kingfisher are swallowed whole, head first, after being beaten on a perch. The average length of fish is less than 7.6 cm but ranged from 2.5 to 17.8 cm. The fish caught in Ohio streams to range from 4 to 14 cm in length. Several studies indicate that belted kingfishers usually catch the prey that are most available.

Belted Kingfisher Diet

Diet, therefore, varies considerably among different water bodies and with the season. Although kingfishers feed predominantly on fish, they also sometimes consume large numbers of crayfish. However, in shortages of their preferred foods, have been known to consume crabs, mussels, lizards, frogs, toads, small snakes, turtles, insects, salamanders, newts, young birds, mice, and berries.

Belted Kingfisher Nest

Parents bring surprisingly large fish to their young. The nestlings only 7 to 10 days old were provided fish up to 10 cm long, and nestlings only 2 weeks old were provided with fish up to 13 cm in length. After fledging, young belted kingfishers fed on flying insects for their first 4 days after leaving the nest, crayfish for the next week, and by the 18th-day post-fledging, could catch fish.

Belted Kingfisher Juvenile

The juvenile plumage is maintained through the winter, and young birds undergo their first prenuptial molt in the spring between Feb and Apr. It is involving most of the body plumage. Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in the fall Aug to Oct.

Migration

This kingfisher breeds over most of the area of North America and winters in most regions of the continental United States. Although most northern kingfishers migrate to southern regions during the coldest months, some may stay in areas that remain ice-free where fishing is possible.

Breeding Activities and Social Organization

During the breeding season, pairs establish territories for nesting and fishing. Otherwise, belted kingfishers are solitary. They are not colonial nesters and will defend an unused bank if it lies within their territory. In migrating populations, the males arrive before the females to find suitable nesting territories.

Kingfishers excavate their burrows in earthen banks, forming a tunnel that averages 1 to 2 m in length, although some burrows may be as long as 3 to 4 m. The burrow entrance is usually 30 to 90 cm from the top of the bank and at least 1.5 m from the base. Burrows closer to the top may collapse, and burrows too low may flood. Burrows may be used for more than one season.

Five to seven eggs are laid on the bare substrate or on fish bones within the burrow. Only one adult, usually the female, spends the night in the nest cavity; males usually roost in nearby forested areas or heavy cover. Both parents incubate eggs and feed the young. After fledging, the young remain with their parents for 10 to 15 days.

Belted Kingfisher Range

During the breeding season, belted kingfishers require suitable nesting sites with adequate nearby fishing. During spring and early summer, both male and female belted kingfishers defend a territory that includes both their nest site and their foraging area. By autumn, each bird including the young of the year.

Belted Kingfisher defends an individual feeding territory only. The breeding territories (length of waterline protected) can be more than twice as long as the fall and winter feeding territories, and stream territories tend to be longer than those on lakes. Foraging territory size is inversely related to prey abundance.

Moreover, the population density and breeding densities of between two and six pairs per 10 km of river shoreline have been recorded, with density increasing with food availability. Kingfishers are sensitive to disturbance and usually do not nest in areas near human activity. Kingfishers typically breed in the first season after they are born.

Fledging success depends on food availability, storms, floods, predation, and the integrity of the nest burrow but can be as high as 97 percent. Dispersal of young occurs within a month of fledging.

Belted Kingfisher Call

Belted Kingfisher gives mechanical rattles, strident screams, sometimes harsh call, when threatened and flies over rivers or lakes. This is seen perched on a high snag, or hovering on quickly beating wings, then plunging headfirst into the water to grab a fish.

Similar Species

1. The green kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) is smaller 22 cm than the belted kingfisher and is only common in the lower Rio Grande Valley. It also is found in southeastern Arizona and along the Texas coast, usually during fall and winter.

2. The ringed kingfisher (Ceryletorquata) is larger 41 cm and resides in the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Mexico.

Read More – The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron / Crested Kingfisher

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Tuesday 17 September 2019

The Red-tailed Hawk Facts

Order Falconiformes, Family Accipitridae. The family Accipitridae includes most birds of prey except falcons, owls, and American vultures. Buteo hawks are moderately large soaring hawks that inhabit open or semi-open areas. They are the most common daytime avian predators on ground-dwelling vertebrates, particularly rodents and other small mammals.

They range in size from the broad-winged hawk (41 cm bill tip to tail tip) to the ferruginous hawk (58 cm). Hawks egest pellets that contain undigestible parts of their prey, such as hair and feathers, that can be useful in identifying the types of prey eaten (bones usually are digested completely).

Where Does Red-tailed Hawk Live?

The red-tailed hawk “Buteo jamaicensis” is the most common Buteo species in the United States. Breeding populations are distributed throughout most wooded and semi-wooded regions of the United States and Canada south of the tundra, although some populations are found in deserts and prairie habitats. Six subspecies are recognized. Nesting primarily in woodlands, red-tails feed in open country on a wide variety of small-to-medium-sized prey.

Body Size

Males of this medium-sized buteo (46 cm) weigh about 1 kg, and females are approximately 20 percent heavier than the males. Otherwise, the sexes look alike.

Habitat

Red-tails are found in habitats ranging from woodlands, wetlands, pastures, and prairies to deserts. They appear to prefer a mixed landscape containing old fields, wetlands, and pastures for foraging interspersed with groves of woodlands and bluffs and streamside trees for perching and nesting. Red-tails build their nests close to the tops of trees in low-density forests and often in trees that are on a slope.

In areas where trees are scarce, nests are built on other structures, occasionally in cactus, on rock pinnacles or ledges, or man-made structures. In winter, night roosts usually are in thick conifers if available and in other types of trees otherwise.

What Does Red-Tailed Hawk Eat?

The Red-tails hunt mainly from an elevated perch, often near woodland edges. Small mammals, including mice, shrews, voles, rabbits, and squirrels, are important prey, particularly during winter. Red-tails also eat a wide variety of foods depending on availability, including birds, lizards, snakes, and large insects.

In general, red-tails are opportunistic and will feed on whatever species are most abundant Winter food choices vary with snow cover; when small mammals such as voles become unavailable (under the snow), red-tails may concentrate on larger prey, such as pheasants.

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

Juveniles molt into adult plumage in a gradual process from the spring (age about 14 months) to summer or early fall.

Migration.

The more northerly red-tailed hawk populations are migratory while the more southerly is year-round residents.

Red-tailed Hawk Life Cycle

Red-tails lay one clutch per year consisting of one to three eggs, although a replacement clutch is possible if the initial clutch is lost early in the breeding season. Their nests are large and built of twigs. Both sexes incubate, but the male provides food for the female during incubation and the entire family following hatching. The parents continue to feed their young after fledging while they are learning to hunt.

Red-tailed Hawk Lifespan

The average life span of a wild red hawk is around 20 to 25 years.

Re-tailed Hawk Behavior

Red-tailed hawks are territorial throughout the year, including winter. Trees or other sites for nesting and perching are important requirements for breeding territories and can determine which habitats are used in an area.

Home range size can vary from a few hundred hectares to over 1,500 hectares, depending on the habitat. The size of red-tail territories and the location of boundaries between territories varied little from year to year, even though individual birds or pairs died and were replaced.

Population density.

Population densities normally do not exceed 0.03 pairs per hectare, and habitually are lower than 0.005 pairs per hectare. Populations in southern areas such as Florida can increase substantially in the winter with the influx of migrants from the more northerly populations.

Population dynamics.

Beginning at 2 years of age, most red-tailed hawks attempt to breed, although the proportion of breeding can vary by population and environmental conditions. Average clutch size varies regionally, tending to increase from east to west and from south to north. The density of their main prey, the snowshoe hare, over the years.

The mean clutch size for the red-tail population, however, appeared to vary with prey density, from 1.7 to 2.6 eggs/nest. Over the course of the study, about 50 percent of observed nestling losses occurred within 3 to 4 weeks after hatching due to starvation.

Most of the variance in yearly mortality of nestlings could be attributed to the amount of food supplied and the frequency of rain. Large raptors such as horned owls also can be important sources of mortality for red-tail nestlings in some areas.

Similar species

1. The ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis), one of the larger buteos (58 cm), inhabits the dry open country of the western United States.

2. The red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) is slightly smaller (53 cm) and feeds on snakes, frogs, crayfish, mice, and some small birds. Its range is east of the Rocky Mountains and in California, with moist mixed woodlands preferred.

3. Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) is restricted to the open plains of the western United States. Although it is as large (53 cm) as the red-tail, it preys mostly on insects.

4. The broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) is one of the smaller buteos (41 cm) and preys on mice, frogs, snakes, and insects. It prefers woodlands and is found almost exclusively east of the Mississippi River.

5. Harris' hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) is similar in size (53 cm) to the red-tailed hawk but is restricted to the semiarid wood and brushlands of the southwest. This bird nests in saguaro, mesquite, and yucca and preys on rodents, lizards, and small birds.

6. The rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus) is one of the larger buteos (56 cm). It winters throughout most of the United States in open country but breeds only in the high arctic of North America.

7. The zone-tailed hawk (Buteo albonotatus) is slightly smaller (51 cm) than most buteos and feeds on rodents, lizards, fish, frogs, and small birds. It can be found in mesa and mountain country within its limited range between the southwest United States and Mexico.

8. The short-tailed hawk (Buteo brachyurus) is the smallest buteo (39 cm) and can only be found in the southern tip of Florida in mixed woodland and grassland habitats.

Read More – The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron

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