Ridgway's hawk

Ridgway's hawk (Buteo ridgwayi) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, native to the island of Hispaniola. It was named after the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway. It is a brownish-grey bird with barred tail and underparts. It feeds mainly on reptiles, but also consumes small birds and mammals. It nests high in a tree in spring. Populations of this bird have been declining because of habitat destruction and human persecution in the Dominican Republic and is classified as "critically endangered".

Ridgway's hawk

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Buteo
Species:
B. ridgwayi
Binomial name
Buteo ridgwayi
(Cory, 1883)
Synonyms

Rupornis ridgwayi

Description

This is a medium-sized, compact hawk, 36–41 cm long. The adult has brown-grey upperparts, greyish barred underparts with a reddish-brown wash, rufous-tinged thighs and a black-and-white barred tail. The male is greyer than the female. The legs and base of bill are yellow.

This bird feeds on small mammals, birds, lizards and snakes. It nests in the crowns of tall trees, with nest-building in February and March and egg-laying in March and April.

Distribution

The Ridgway's hawk's original breeding range includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic (which make up the island of Hispaniola) and some of the adjacent isles and keys. However, sightings are much more common in the Dominican Republic.

Status

This bird is critically endangered due to clearance of its forest habitat and persecution by local farmers, who claim that the species preys upon their domestic fowl. Conservationists have countered that poultry is nothing more than a minor element of their diet and that the Ridgway's Hawk has a highly varied prey base, though reptiles comprise up to 90% of its diet. It has an estimated population of 80–120 pairs,[2] making it, along with the bay-breasted cuckoo (Coccyzus rufigularis), the most threatened bird of Hispaniola. It is thought the population has been reduced to nothing more than around 400 individuals. The only known surviving redoubt is the Los Haitises National Park and the surrounding wilderness of the north-western Dominican Republic.

This bird is named after the ornithologist Robert Ridgway.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2013). "Buteo ridgwayi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. "Groups unite at last refuge for Ridgway's hawk". BirdLife International. 2006-01-11. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
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