Acadia National Park

Description  ADULT Light morph has brown upperparts including head; throat is pale, with dark malar stripe, breast is reddish brown and otherwise pale underparts are marked with broad, reddish brown bars. In flight, seen from below, note mainly pale wings with dark tips and trailing edge, barred brown body and inner wing coverts, pale vent, and striking, broad white band on otherwise dark tail (indistinct, narrow second band sometimes discernible near base of tail feathers). Adult dark morph is uniformly dark brown when perched, except for pale band on tail; in flight, flight feathers are pale, but with dark trailing edge and primary tips. JUVENILE Light morph is similar to adult, but underparts are usually paler, with less extensive brown barring; in flight, from below, looks pale except for gray trailing edge and wingtips, and gray-barred tail.

Dimensions  Length: 13-15" (33-38 cm); Wngspn: 33" (84 cm)

Habitat  Common summer visitor (mainly May-Aug) to forests. Winters in South America. Migrants avoid crossing water and in fall funnel through southern Texas before passing south through Central America; spring migrants follow reverse route.

Observation Tips  Migrates in huge numbers and sizeable groups ("kettles") utilize thermal updrafts to gain lift. Well-known migration watchpoints are easy to find on the web.

Range  Florida, Plains, New England, Rocky Mountains, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Texas, Eastern Canada, Southwest, Western Canada, California

Voice  Utters a shrill, almost electronic-sounding, tuee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee call.

Discussion  Our smallest Buteo hawk. Unobtrusive and easily overlooked: perches for long periods in woodland cover. In flight, note broad and rather pointed wings and medium-length tail. Sexes are similar; rare dark morph exists.

Migration Info  This species, famous for the huge flocks that migrate southward each fall, moves back into the United States in spring along a broad front. The only significant concentrations of these birds during the spring are found along the southern shores of the Great Lakes in late April. The yearly migratory path of this species is a classical elliptical pattern. Spring migrants move northward up the Mississippi River valley, remaining west of the Appalachians. In fall, northern populations follow a southerly course down along the eastern side of the Appalachian crest.