Buteo lineatus
Order Accipitriformes
Family Accipitridae
Subfamily Accipitrinae
Other names: Hen Hawk
Adult.— Bend of wing and under parts reddish-brown; tail black, crossed with five or six narrow white bars.
Immature.— Upper parts dark brown, spotted with white; tail dark, crossed with grayish bands; under parts whitish, streaked or spotted with brown.
Nest, in large trees, from fifty to seventy-five feet up.
Eggs, white or whitish, spotted with brown.
The Red-shouldered Hawk, called Hen Hawk by the farmers, is the commonest hawk in southern New England and the lower Hudson Valley. It is a permanent resident, but less common in winter than in summer in the northern portion of its range. It becomes rare at the edge of the Canadian Zone. It may be seen circling high overhead, often screaming tee’-ur tèe’-ur, or a pair may be seen over low, swampy woods, screaming, and soaring higher and higher, till they become mere specks in the blue. In fall and winter it often perches on some favorite tree, watching for mice or frogs in the low meadows or swampy grounds. The Red-shouldered Hawk is not swift enough to pursue many birds on the wing, as the Falcons and Accipiters do; it either watches the ground from a perch, as above described, or when soaring high overhead, scans the ground or trees beneath it for mice, squirrels, rabbits, and occasionally birds. When it sees its prey, it closes wings and tail, and drops swiftly down upon it.
Adults have reddish-brown under parts, and may be thus distinguished from Red-tailed Hawks; but immature birds of both species differ very little, and can hardly be distinguished unless killed. The notes of the two, however, differ, and in spring and summer are excellent means of identification. The scream of the Red-shouldered Hawk is identical with one of the notes of the Blue Jay; it can easily be imitated by whistling. The scream of the Red-tailed Hawk is higher, more sputtering, more of a squeal than a scream.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)