Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

RED-BELLIED HAWK.

339b. Buteo lineatus elegans. 19 inches.

These birds are darker in color than the Red-shouldered Hawk of the East, and in their habits very much resemble the [Red-tail]; for food they prefer the large variety of small rodents and rarely disturb poultry or birds. The under parts are a bright reddish brown, without bars. They may be found covering the same territory as the Red-tail on the Pacific Coast west of the Rockies from British Columbia south to Lower California.

Nest.—Is made of twigs lined with rootlets and leaves and feathers. They lay from two to four eggs of a white color spotted and blotched all over with a light shade of brown and lilac (2.15 × 1.75).

ZONE-TAILED HAWK.

340. Buteo abbreviatus. 19 inches.

This whole bird is black, with the exception of the tail, which has three wide bands of white and the ends of the tail feathers tipped with white. Like others of the Buteo family they feed almost entirely on the small rodents, which they find in abundance in the marsh and prairie, or in the low brush. Eggs, two to four, white, faintly spotted with light chestnut (2.15 × 1.75).

SWAINSON HAWK.

342. Buteo swainsoni. 20 inches.