For a decade a pair of red-shouldered hawks (buteo lineatus) have claimed and defended our back-forty as their nesting territory. These ambush hunters are small forest raptors—about the size of a crow, with a three-foot wingspan. When in pursuit of small mammals, frogs, lizards, snakes and large insects, these graceful aerialists thread through the understory of towering woodland canopies with ease—before swooping down powerfully to surprise and snatch their prey.
Based on past concurrent sightings of the pair, I’m fairly certain this is the male. In this broad-winged hawk species, males are noticeably smaller than females. This makes size the most obvious characteristic to distinguish between the sexes, since plumage is identical.
© Ilija Lukić 2026
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