Ferruginous Hawk
Buteo regalis
Habitat
Ground
Diet
VertFishScav
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
1.4 kg
About This Species
The largest of the North American buteos, it hunts over open prairie, shrub-steppe, and dry grassland in the western United States and Canada, often perched conspicuously on the ground, a fence post, or a low rise while watching for ground squirrels and other prairie rodents. Its pale head and rust-toned back and legs help distinguish it from other large hawks at a distance, and it is most visible in open country during the breeding season and again on wintering grounds farther south. Scanning fence lines and utility poles along quiet rural roads in prairie country is often productive.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Because this species nests on the ground or in isolated trees in open habitat with few visual barriers, it is unusually sensitive to human approach and can abandon nests if disturbed, so keeping well back with optics rather than walking toward a nest site is important.
- It receives protection under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and equivalent Canadian legislation, and several western states additionally list it as a species of concern, restricting activity near known nest sites during the breeding season.
- Vehicles on established roads generally cause less disturbance than someone on foot approaching directly.
Seasonal Activity
206,972 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
Traits
- Diet
- VertFishScav
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 1.4 kg
Photo
(c) Jamie Chavez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.