Southwestern red-tailed hawk

The southwestern red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis fuertesi)[1] is a subspecies of red-tailed hawk that breeds from northern Chihuahua to southern Texas. It winters in Arizona, New Mexico and southern Louisiana.[2] This seems to be a particularly large subspecies, although its size is not drastically different from the western red-tailed hawk (B. j. calurus), and, going on average wing size and tarsal length, this appears to be the largest race of red-tailed hawk. The wing chord of males can range from 385 to 402 mm (15.2 to 15.8 in), averaging 393.3 mm (15.48 in), and, in females, it ranges from 425 to 436 mm (16.7 to 17.2 in), averaging 430.7 mm (16.96 in). Additionally, males and females average 210.9 and 223.8 mm (8.30 and 8.81 in) in tail length, 88 and 93 mm (3.5 and 3.7 in) in tarsal length and 26.3 and 27.5 mm (1.04 and 1.08 in) in culmen length.[3][4][5] Hybridization seems to occur in eastern Texas with the eastern red-tailed hawk (B. j. borealis), broadly to the west with B. j. calurus and, possibly, in Nuevo León and Chihuahua with the Mexican Highlands red-tailed hawk (B. j. hadropus).[6] This race combines the darker back of B. j. calurus with the paler underside of B. j. borealis, with the belly band either entirely absent or only manifesting in light streaking. The tail is variable but relatively pale, with some individuals showing almost no dark subterminal band, others having quite a broad subterminal band and some showing extensively barring on top like darker morphs of B. j. calurus.[3][6][7]

Southwestern red-tailed hawk
Aguililla Cola Roja - panoramio
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Buteo
Species:
B. jamaicensis
Subspecies:
B. j. fuertesi
Trinomial name
Buteo jamaicensis fuertesi

References
  1. Sibley, David Allen (19 December 2009). "Subspecies names in the Sibley Guide to Birds". Sibley Guides: Identification of North American Birds and Trees. Random House. Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014. Website based on / supplement to book, Sibley, David Allen (11 March 2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds (Second ed.). Knopf Doubleday (Random House). ISBN 9780307957900.
  2. Tesky, Julie L. "Buteo jamaicensis". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  3. Ferguson-Lees, J. & Christie, D. (2001). Raptors of the World. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-0-7136-8026-3.
  4. Preston, C. R. & Beane, R. D. (2009). "Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)". The Birds of North America. doi:10.2173/bna.52.
  5. 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.
  6. Palmer, R. S. ed. (1988). Handbook of North American Birds. Volume 5 Diurnal Raptors (Part 2).
  7. Howell, Steve N. G.; Webb, Sophie (1995). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-854012-0.


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