Buteo Temporal range: Oligocene – present | |
---|---|
Common buzzard (Buteo buteo) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Accipitriformes |
Family: | Accipitridae |
Subfamily: | Buteoninae |
Genus: | Buteo Lacépède, 1799 |
Type species | |
Falco buteo Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
About 30, see text | |
Synonyms | |
Asturina |
Buteo is a genus of medium to fairly large, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings. In the Old World, members of this genus are called "buzzards", but "hawk" is used in the New World (Etymology: Buteo is the Latin name of the common buzzard [1] ). As both terms are ambiguous, buteo is sometimes used instead, for example, by the Peregrine Fund. [2]
Buteos are fairly large birds. Total length can vary from 30 to 75 cm (12 to 30 in) and wingspan can range from 67 to 170 cm (26 to 67 in). The lightest known species is the roadside hawk, [a] at an average of 269 g (9.5 oz) although the lesser known white-rumped and Ridgway's hawks are similarly small in average wingspan around 75 cm (30 in), and average length around 35 cm (14 in) in standard measurements. The largest species in length and wingspan is the upland buzzard, which averages around 65 cm (26 in) in length and 152 cm (60 in) in wingspan. The upland is rivaled in weight and outsized in foot measurements and bill size by the ferruginous hawk. In both of these largest buteos, adults typically weigh over 1,200 g (2.6 lb), and in mature females, can exceed a mass of 2,000 g (4.4 lb). [5] [6] [7] [8] All buteos may be noted for their broad wings and sturdy builds. They frequently soar on thermals at midday over openings and are most frequently seen while doing this. The flight style varies based on the body type and wing shape and surface size. Some long-winged species, such as rough-legged buzzards and Swainson's hawks, have a floppy, buoyant flight style, while others, such as red-tailed hawks and rufous-tailed hawks, tend to be relatively shorter-winged, soaring more slowly and flying with more labored, deeper flaps. [5] Most small and some medium-sized species, from the roadside hawk to the red-shouldered hawk, often fly with an alternation of soaring and flapping, thus may be reminiscent of an Accipiter hawk in flight, but are still relatively larger-winged, shorter-tailed, and soar more extensively in open areas than Accipiter species do. [5] [9] Buteos inhabit a wide range of habitats across the world, but tend to prefer some access to both clearings, which provide ideal hunting grounds, and trees, which can provide nesting locations and security. [6] [7]
All Buteo species are to some extent opportunistic when it comes to hunting, and prey on almost any type of small animal as it becomes available to them. However, most have a strong preference for small mammals, mostly rodents. Rodents of almost every family in the world are somewhere preyed upon by Buteo species. [5] [6] [7] Since many rodents are primarily nocturnal, most buteos mainly hunt rodents that may be partially active during the day, which can include squirrels and chipmunks, voles, and gerbils. More nocturnal varieties are hunted opportunistically and may be caught in the first or last few hours of light. [5] [7] Other smallish mammals, such as shrews, moles, pikas, bats, and weasels, tend to be minor secondary prey, although can locally be significant for individual species. [5] [7] Larger mammals, such as rabbits, hares, and marmots, including even adult specimens weighing as much as 2 to 3 kg (4.4 to 6.6 lb), may be hunted by the heaviest and strongest species, such as ferruginous, [7] [10] [11] red-tailed [12] and white-tailed hawks. [13] Birds are taken occasionally, as well. Small to mid-sized birds, i.e. passerines, woodpeckers, waterfowl, pigeons, and gamebirds, are most often taken. However, since the adults of most smaller birds can successfully outmaneuver and evade buteos in flight, much avian prey is taken in the nestling or fledgling stages or adult birds if they are previously injured. [5] [7] An exception is the short-tailed hawk, which is a relatively small and agile species and is locally a small bird-hunting specialist. [14] The Hawaiian hawk, which evolved on an isolated group of islands with no terrestrial mammals, was also initially a bird specialist, although today it preys mainly on introduced rodents. Other prey may include snakes, lizards, frogs, salamanders, fish, and even various invertebrates, especially beetles. In several Buteo species found in more tropical regions, such as the roadside hawk or grey-lined hawk, reptiles and amphibians may come to locally dominate the diet. [5] Swainson's hawk, despite its somewhat large size, is something of exceptional insect-feeding specialist and may rely almost fully on crickets and dragonflies when wintering in southern South America. [15] [16] Carrion is eaten occasionally by most species, but is almost always secondary to live prey. [5] The importance of carrion in the Old World "buzzard" species is relatively higher since these often seem slower and less active predators than their equivalents in the Americas. [17] [18] [19] Most Buteo species seem to prefer to ambush prey by pouncing down to the ground directly from a perch. In a secondary approach, many spot prey from a great distance while soaring and circle down to the ground to snatch it. [5]
Buteos are typical accipitrids in most of their breeding behaviors. They all build their own nests, which are often constructed out of sticks and other materials they can carry. Nests are generally located in trees, which are generally selected based on large sizes and inaccessibility to climbing predators rather than by species. Most Buteos breed in stable pairs, which may mate for life or at least for several years even in migratory species in which pairs part ways during winter. Generally from 2 to 4 eggs are laid by the female and are mostly incubated by her, while the male mate provides food. Once the eggs hatch, the survival of the young is dependent upon how abundant appropriate food is and the security of the nesting location from potential nest predators and other (often human-induced) disturbances. As in many raptors, the nestlings hatch at intervals of a day or two and the older, strong siblings tend to have the best chances of survival, with the younger siblings often starving or being handled aggressively (and even killed) by their older siblings. The male generally does most of the hunting and the female broods, but the male may also do some brooding while the female hunts as well. Once the fledgling stage is reached, the female takes over much of the hunting. After a stage averaging a couple of weeks, the fledglings take the adults‘ increasing indifference to feeding them or occasional hostile behavior towards them as a cue to disperse on their own. Generally, young Buteos tend to disperse several miles away from their nesting grounds and wander for one to two years until they can court a mate and establish their own breeding range. [5] [6] [7]
The Buteo hawks include many of the most widely distributed, most common, and best-known raptors in the world. Examples include the red-tailed hawk of North America and the common buzzard of Eurasia. Most Northern Hemisphere species are at least partially migratory. In North America, species such as broad-winged hawks and Swainson's hawks are known for their huge numbers (often called "kettles") while passing over major migratory flyways in the fall. Up to tens of thousands of these Buteos can be seen each day during the peak of their migration. Any of the prior mentioned common Buteo species may have total populations that exceed a million individuals. [5] On the other hand, the Socotra buzzard and Galapagos hawks are considered vulnerable to extinction per the IUCN. The Ridgway's hawk is even more direly threatened and is considered Critically Endangered. These insular forms are threatened primarily by habitat destruction, prey reductions and poisoning. [5] [6] The latter reason is considered the main cause of a noted decline in the population of the more abundant Swainson's hawk, due to insecticides being used in southern South America, which the hawks ingest through crickets and then die from poisoning. [20]
The genus Buteo was erected by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799 by tautonymy with the specific name of the common buzzard Falco buteo which had been introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. [21] [22]
Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Common buzzard | Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) Six subspecies
| northwestern China (Tian Shan), far western Siberia and northwestern Mongolia. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Eastern buzzard | Buteo japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844) Four subspecies
| East Asia and some parts of Russia and South Asi | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Himalayan buzzard | Buteo refectus Portenko, 1935 | the Himalayas in Nepal, India and southern China. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Cape Verde buzzard | Buteo bannermani (Swann, 1919) | Cape Verde | Size: Habitat: Diet: | |
Socotra buzzard | Buteo socotraensis Porter & Kirwan, 2010 | Socotra, Yemen | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
Red-tailed hawk | Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) Fourteen subspecies
| Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Long-legged buzzard | Buteo rufinus (Cretzschmar, 1829) Two subspecies
| Southeastern Europe down to East Africa to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Rough-legged buzzard | Buteo lagopus (Pontoppidan, 1763) Four subspecies
| Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Russia | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Ferruginous hawk | Buteo regalis (Gray, 1844) | North America | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Red-shouldered hawk | Buteo lineatus (Gmelin, 1788) | eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Broad-winged hawk | Buteo platypterus (Vieillot, 1823) Six subspecies
| eastern North America, as far west as British Columbia and Texas, Neotropics from Mexico south to southern Brazil | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Swainson's hawk | Buteo swainsoni Bonaparte, 1838 | western North America, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, and in Norway. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Ridgway's hawk | Buteo ridgwayi (Cory, 1883) | Hispaniola | Size: Habitat: Diet: | CR |
Short-tailed hawk | Buteo brachyurus (Vieillot, 1816) Two subspecies
| From southeastern Brazil and northern Argentina north through Central America to the mountains of the Mexico-Arizona border area, as well as in southern Florida, United States | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
White-throated hawk | Buteo albigula Philippi, 1899 | South America | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Galapagos hawk | Buteo galapagoensis (Gould, 1837) | Galápagos Islands | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
Gray-lined hawk | Buteo nitidus Latham, 1790 Three subspecies
| El Salvador to Argentina, as well as on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Gray hawk | Buteo plagiatus (Schlegel, 1862) | from Costa Rica north into the southwestern United States | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Zone-tailed hawk | Buteo albonotatus (Kaup, 1847) | southern Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas almost throughout inland Mexico and the central portions of Central America down into eastern Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and northern Argentina. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Hawaiian hawk | Buteo solitarius (Peale, 1848) | Hawaii | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
Rufous-tailed hawk | Buteo ventralis Gould, 1837 | Argentina, Chile | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
Mountain buzzard | Buteo oreophilus Hartert and Neumann, 1914 | East Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
Forest buzzard | Buteo trizonatus Rudebeck, 1957 | South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
Madagascar buzzard | Buteo brachypterus Hartlaub, 1860 | Madagascar | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Upland buzzard | Buteo hemilasius Temminck & Schlegel, 1844 | Central and East Asia | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Red-necked buzzard | Buteo auguralis Salvadori, 1865 | The Sahel and Central Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Jackal buzzard | Buteo rufofuscus (Forster, 1798) | Southern Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Augur buzzard | Buteo augur (Rüppell, 1836) Two subspecies
| from Ethiopia to southern Angola and central Namibia. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | LC |
A number of fossil species have been discovered, mainly in North America. Some are placed here primarily based on considerations of biogeography, Buteo being somewhat hard to distinguish from Geranoaetus based on osteology alone: [51]
An unidentifiable accipitrid that occurred on Ibiza in the Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene may also have been a Buteo. [57] If this is so, the bird can be expected to aid in untangling the complicated evolutionary history of the common buzzard group.
The prehistoric species "Aquila" danana, Buteogallus fragilis (Fragile eagle), and Spizaetus grinnelli were at one time also placed in Buteo. [51]
The European honey buzzard, also known as the pern or common pern, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The rough-legged buzzard (Europe) or rough-legged hawk is a medium-large bird of prey. It is found in arctic and subarctic regions of North America, Europe, and Asia during the breeding season, and migrates south for the winter. Historically, it was also known as "rough-legged falcon" in such works as John James Audubon's The Birds of America.
Accipiter is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. Most species are called sparrowhawks, but there are many sparrowhawks in other genera too, such as Tachyspiza.
The lizard buzzard, or lizard hawk, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is the only species placed in the genus Kaupifalco. It is native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite its name, it may be more closely related to the Accipiter hawks than the Buteo buzzards.
Aquila is the genus of true eagles. The genus name is Latin for "eagle", possibly derived from aquilus, "dark in colour". It is often united with the sea eagles, buteos, and other more heavyset Accipitridae, but more recently they appear to be less distinct from the slenderer accipitrine hawks than previously believed. Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable vertebrate prey.
The black-chested buzzard-eagle is a bird of prey of the hawk and eagle family (Accipitridae). It lives in open regions of South America. This species is also known as the black buzzard-eagle, the gray buzzard-eagle, or analogously with "eagle" or "eagle-buzzard" replacing "buzzard-eagle", or as the Chilean blue eagle. It is sometimes placed in the genus Buteo.
The jackal buzzard is a fairly large African bird of prey. The taxonomy of this species has caused some confusion in the past and it almost certainly belongs in a species complex with other African Buteo species. Some taxonomists have considered this species, the Archer's buzzard, and the augur buzzard to be the same superspecies. Many taxonomists consider them all to be distinct, having different calls, different home ranges and variations in plumage. This is a species that lives among mountains, and on adjacent savanna and grassland. It is resident and non-migratory throughout its range.
The mountain buzzard is a bird of prey that lives in montane forests in East Africa, it and the forest buzzard of southern Africa were, until recently, considered to be a single species.
The red-necked buzzard, also known as the African red-tailed buzzard, is a species of buzzard in the family Accipitridae which is found in western and northern central Africa.
The Madagascar buzzard is a bird of prey which is endemic to Madagascar. It is a species from the widespread genus Buteo in the family Accipitridae.
The rufous-tailed hawk is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The long-tailed honey buzzard is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The black-and-white hawk-eagle is a bird of prey species in the eagle and hawk family (Accipitridae). It is found throughout a large part of tropical America, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
Nisaetus, the crested hawk-eagles, is a genus of raptor in the subfamily Aquilinae, found mainly in tropical Asia. They were earlier placed within the genus Spizaetus but molecular studies show that the Old World representatives of that genus are closer to the genus Ictinaetus than to the New World Spizaetus. They are slender-bodied, medium-sized hawk-eagles with rounded wings, long feathered legs, barred wings, crests and usually adapted to forest habitats.
The variable hawk is a polymorphic species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The Hawaiian hawk or ʻio is a raptor in the genus Buteo endemic to Hawaiʻi, currently restricted to the Big Island. The ʻio is one of two extant birds of prey that are native to Hawaiʻi, the other being the pueo and fossil evidence indicates that it inhabited the island of Hawaiʻi, Molokaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui and Kauaʻi at one time. Today, it is known to breed only on the Big Island, in stands of native ʻōhiʻa lehua trees. The species was protected as an endangered species in the United States, but was delisted in 2020. However, the IUCN classifies the species as Near Threatened. NatureServe considers the species Vulnerable.
The short-tailed hawk is an American bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles and Old World vultures. As a member of the genus Buteo, it is not a true hawk and thus also referred to as a "buteo" or "buzzard". The white-throated hawk is a close relative and was formerly included in the species B. brachyurus.
The forest buzzard, is a species of bird of prey found in Africa, though some authorities have placed it as a subspecies of another species, the mountain buzzard, Buteo oreophilus. This is a resident breeding species in woodlands in southern and eastern South Africa.
The Himalayan buzzard is a medium to large bird of prey that is sometimes considered a subspecies of the widespread common buzzard. It is native to the Himalayas in Nepal, India and adjacent mountains of southern China.
The eastern buzzard or Japanese buzzard is a medium to large bird of prey that is sometimes considered a subspecies of the widespread common buzzard. Some scientists treated is as a distinct species starting in 2008, but others still treat it as either one or three subspecies. It is native to East Asia and some parts of Russia and South Asia, with some birds wintering in Southeast Asia. It is similar to the steppe buzzard. It is carnivorous.
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