Hawk 7

Hawk is a common name for some small to medium-sized diurnal birds of prey, widely distributed and varying greatly in size.... more

by John Straton

Title

Hawk 7

Artist

John Straton

Medium

Photograph

Description

Hawk is a common name for some small to medium-sized diurnal birds of prey, widely distributed and varying greatly in size.

The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, the sharp-shinned hawk and others. These are mainly woodland birds with long tails and high visual acuity, hunting by sudden dashes from a concealed perch.
In the Americas, members of the Buteo group are also called hawks; these are called buzzards in other parts of the world. Generally buteos have broad wings and sturdy builds. They are relatively larger winged, shorter-tailed and soar more extensively in open areas than accipiters, descending or pouncing on their prey rather than making fast horizontal pursuit.
The terms buteonine hawk and accipitrine hawk may be used to distinguish the two types, in regions where hawk applies to both. The term "true hawk" (with scare quotes) is sometimes used for the accipitrine hawks, in regions where buzzard is preferred for the buteonine hawks.

All these groups are members of the Accipitridae family, which includes the hawks and buzzards as well as kites, harriers and eagles.

Some authors use "hawk" generally for any small to medium Accipitrid that is not an eagle.[1]


Immature Northern goshawk with fresh kill

Hawk sighted in Toronto in front of the Fields Institute.
The common names of some birds include the term "hawk", reflecting traditional usage rather than taxonomy, such as referring to an osprey as a "fish hawk" or a peregrine falcon as a "duck hawk".
Accipiter group[edit]
The accipitrine hawks generally take birds as their primary prey. They have also been called "hen-hawks", or "wood-hawks" because of their woodland habitat.

The subfamily Accipitrinae contains Accipiter; it also contains genera Micronisus (Gabar goshawk), Urotriorchis (long-tailed hawk), and Megatriorchis (Doria's goshawk). Melierax (chanting goshawks) may be included in the subfamily, or given a subfamily of its own.

Erythrotriorchis (the red and chestnut-shouldered goshawks) is traditionally included in Accipitrinae, but is possibly a convergent genus from an unrelated group (see red goshawk taxonomy).
Buteo group[edit]
The "Buteo group" includes genera Buteo, Parabuteo, Geranoetus, and most of Leucopternis.

Members of this group have also been called "hawk-buzzards".[3]

Proposed new genera Morphnarchus, Rupornis, and Pseudastur are formed from members of Buteo and Leucopternis.[4]

The "Buteogallus group" are also called hawks, with the exception of the solitary eagles.

Buteo is the type genus of the subfamily Buteoninae. Traditionally this subfamily also includes eagles and sea-eagles. Lerner and Mindell (2005) proposed placing those into separate subfamilies (Aquilinae, Haliaaetinae), leaving just the buteonine hawks/buzzards in Buteoninae.
Intelligence[edit]
In February 2005, the Canadian ornithologist Louis Lefebvre announced a method of measuring avian "IQ" in terms of their innovation in feeding habits.[5] Hawks were named among the most intelligent birds based on his scale.

Eyesight[edit]
Hawks have four types of colour receptors in the eye. These give birds the ability to perceive not only the visible range but also the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and other adaptations allow for the detection of polarised light or magnetic fields. This is due to the many photoreceptors in the retina (up to 1,000,000 per square mm for Buteo, against 200,000 for humans), an exceptional number of nerves connecting these receptors to the brain, and an indented fovea, which magnifies the central portion of the visual field.[6][7]

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March 6th, 2014