BREC's Fauna Conservation Park Guide
This guide provides a resource for a majority of the animals that you may come across within a BREC Conservation Area. Make sure you use it as a checklist to document what you see at our parks! From turtles and snakes, to beavers and dragonflies use this to learn more about your local ...more ↓
Sharp-shinned Hawk
The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is a small hawk. In fact, "sharp-shins" or "sharpies" (as they are sometimes casually called) are the smallest to reside in USA and Canada, though some Neotropical species are smaller (notably the aptly named Tiny Hawk). The taxonomy is far from resolved, with some authorities considering the southern taxa three separate species: ...more ↓
Cooper's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from Southern Canada to Northern Mexico. As in many birds of prey, the male is smaller than the female. The birds found east of the Mississippi River tend to be larger on average than the birds found to the west.
Northern Harrier
The Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) or Northern Harrier (in the Americas) is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA, and in northern Eurasia. This species is polytypic, with two subspecies. Marsh Hawk is a historical name for the American form.
Swainson's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni), is a large Buteo hawk of the Falconiformes, sometimes separated in the Accipitriformes like its relatives. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the Grasshopper Hawk or Locust Hawk, as it is very fond of Acrididae (locusts and grasshoppers) and will voraciously eat ...more ↓
Rough-legged Hawk
The Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus), called the Rough-legged Hawk in North America, is a medium-large bird of prey. It is found in Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Eurasia during the breeding season and migrates south for the winter.
Red-shouldered Hawk
The Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) is a medium-sized hawk. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. Red-shouldered Hawks are permanent residents throughout most of their range, though northern birds do migrate, mostly to central Mexico. The main conservation threat to the widespread ...more ↓
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. ...more ↓
Broad-winged Hawk
The Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) is a small hawk of the genus Buteo. During the summer some subspecies are distributed over eastern North America, as far west as British Columbia and Texas; they then migrate south to winter in the neotropics from Mexico down to southern Brazil. Other subspecies are all-year residents on Caribbean islands. As in most raptors, ...more ↓
Swallow-tailed Kite
The Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus) is an elanid kite which breeds from the southeastern United States to eastern Peru and northern Argentina. Most North and Central American breeders winter in South America where the species is resident year round. It was formerly named Falco forficatus.
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus; hali = sea, aeetus = eagle, leuco = white, cephalis = head) is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, ...more ↓
Harris's Hawk
The Harris's Hawk or Harris Hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) formerly known as the Bay-winged Hawk or Dusky Hawk, is a medium-large bird of prey which breeds from the southwestern United States south to Chile and central Argentina. Birds are sometimes reported at large in Western Europe, especially Britain, but it is a popular species in falconry and these ...more ↓
Mississippi Kite
The Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is 12 to 15 inches (30–37 cm) beak to tail and has a wingspan averaging 3 feet (91 cm). Weight is from 214 to 388 grams (7.6-13.7 oz). Adults are gray with darker gray on their tail feathers and outer wings and lighter gray on their heads and inner wings. Males and females look ...more ↓
Osprey
The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk, fish eagle, or fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts. In 1994, the osprey was declared the ...more ↓
