Jamaican red-tailed hawk

The Jamaican red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis) is the nominate subspecies of the red-tailed hawk, a bird of prey of North America. The subspecies B. j. jamaicensis occurs in the northern West Indies, including Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles but not the Bahamas or Cuba. El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico, holds some of the highest known density of Jamaican red-tailed hawks.[1] The bird is referred to as a guaraguao (a Taino term) in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.[2][3]

Jamaican red-tailed hawk
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Buteo
Species:
B. jamaicensis
Subspecies:
B. j. jamaicensis
Trinomial name
Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis
(Gmelin, 1788)

Description

This is the smallest bodied subspecies of red-tailed hawk. In males, the wing chord can range from 330 to 339 mm (13.0 to 13.3 in), averaging 334.9 mm (13.19 in), and, in females, it ranges from 350 to 371 mm (13.8 to 14.6 in), averaging 364.9 mm (14.37 in). Additionally, males and females average 194.8 and 210 mm (7.67 and 8.27 in) in tail length, 81.3 and 83.4 mm (3.20 and 3.28 in) in tarsal length and 26.1 and 28.2 mm (1.03 and 1.11 in) in culmen length.[4][5][6] In terms of body mass, two Puerto Rican males were found to average 795 g (1.753 lb) and two females averaged 1,023 g (2.255 lb).[7] Although claimed as the most sexually dimorphic subspecies by size, neither body mass nor linear dimensions seem to support this.[5][7] This subspecies has less mottling than northern red-tails on the back, lacks the white tip at the end of the rectrices and, most characteristically, has a very broad, but raggedly edged, and black belly band.[4][8]

References
  1. The Lords of the Air. Kingsnake.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22.
  2. Guaraguao Colirrojo on AvesPR.org
  3. Guaraguao colirrojo on EdicionesDigitales
  4. Ferguson-Lees, J.; Christie, D. (2001). Raptors of the World. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-0-7136-8026-3.
  5. Palmer, R. S., ed. (1988). Handbook of North American Birds. Volume 5 Diurnal Raptors (Part 2).
  6. Ridgway, R. & Friedmann, H. (1919). The Birds of North and Middle America: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Higher Groups, Genera, Species, and Subspecies of Birds Known to Occur in North America, from the Arctic Lands to the Isthmus of Panama, the West Indies and Other Islands of the Caribbean Sea, and the Galapagos Archipelago. Vol. 50, No. 8. Govt. Print.
  7. Santana, E. & Temple, S. A. (1988). "Breeding Biology and Diet of Red-Tailed Hawks in Puerto Rico". Biotropica. 20 (2): 151–160. doi:10.2307/2388188. JSTOR 2388188.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Preston, C. R. & Beane, R. D. (2009). "Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)". The Birds of North America. doi:10.2173/bna.52.
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