Each month Trail Manager, Emily Galka, highlights flora and fauna that she observes in the Goethe State Forest that surrounds the Black Prong Resort. Goethe State Forest Species of the Month: Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Each month Trail Manager, Emily Galka, highlights flora and fauna that she observes in the Goethe State Forest that surrounds the Black Prong Resort.
I was riding Lisa on the Black Prong Route, just about at the new line of tiny homes when I got a great view of a Red-shouldered Hawk sitting on a fence. It was so close, I was able to take out my phone and get a decent picture.
These hawks are fairly common but you are more likely to hear one screeching overhead rather than sitting on a fence. The fact one posed for a picture led me to believe it was supposed to be my next species to write about.
They are small, dark brown and white checkered, with reddish shoulders as the name implies. Some Red-shouldered Hawks live up north as far as Michigan, breed in the summer, and migrate to Mexico for the winter. Florida, however, has its own genetically distinct subspecies which is substantially smaller and lighter in color than the 3 other subspecies found in America. Though the Florida Red-shoulder Hawk is still capable of breeding with the other varieties, they tend to breed in January and into the spring. These small hawks prey on small mammals, reptiles and other birds, including blue jays, which have been known to mimic the hawk’s call. Florida Red-shouldered Hawks prefer pine, oak and cypress forests near water, making Goethe an ideal home for them.
Emily Galka (shown with her horse Lisa) is Black Prong’s Trail Riding Manager and resident naturalist.
