9 Hawks found in Iowa in 2023 (Pictures & Facts)

Last updated 17-04-2023 by Mathias

Iowa is well-known for its vast agricultural lands that produce a variety of crops, but it also has a diverse range of natural habitats, including forests, lakes, prairies, and wetlands. These habitats provide shelter and food for a wide range of bird species, with Iowa home to over 430 species. Among these birds are several types of hawks.

Hawks are members of the Accipitridae family of predatory birds. They are diurnal and hunt with their excellent vision and hearing. Female hawks are generally larger than male hawks, which is often regarded as a sexual dimorphism characteristic of the species.

The state of Oklahoma has ten species of hawks that can be seen all year. However, as hawks migrate to and from Iowa, their distribution and species can change with the seasons.

The best places to see birds in Iowa are along the state’s eastern and western borders, where the Missouri and Mississippi rivers flow. Yellow River State Forest, Hitchcock Nature Area, Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, Great River Birding Trail, Dewey’s Pasture, Cone Marsh Wildlife Management Area, Saylorville Reservoir, Hawkeye Wildlife Management Area, Red Rock Reservoir, Ada Hayden Heritage Park, and Deere Dike are examples of these areas.

In this article, we’ll look at the nine different hawk species found in Iowa, as well as the best places to see them.

1. Sharp-shinned Hawk

Image: © Vickie Anderson | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Accipiter striatus

Length: 9.4-13.4 in (24-34 cm)

Weight: 3.1-7.7 oz (87-218 g)

Wingspan: 16.9-22.1 in (43-56 cm)

On its back, the Sharp-shinned Hawk is a blue-grey slate color. Horizontal orange bars are seen on the bird’s breast. Compared to the adult birds, immature Sharp-shinned Hawks are mainly brown with white underparts.

The Sharp-shinned Hawk is a very agile flier, they can speed around dense woods and surprise their prey. These hawks mostly prey on songbirds. They like to pounce from down low perches, they don’t like to stoop on prey from up above.

These birds are resident to long-distance migrants, Sharp-shinned Hawks can be seen all year long in Iowa.

Keep a lookout for these hawks whilst they move across open areas, they use a distinctive flap-and-glide flight pattern. During the summers, the Sharp-Shinned Hawk will spend most of their summers under the cover of canopies and dense forests.

From the mid-1940s to 1972, a pesticide called DDT was used across the US, which caused the numbers of the Sharp-shinned Hawk to decline. As early as 1944, FDA scientists had grown concerned over the possible hazards of DDT. In 1973 when this pesticide was banned, the population of the Sharp-shinned Hawk rebounded.

Female Sharp-shinned Hawks are almost 33% bigger than the male birds. Among hawks and owls, this is common, but in other species of birds, it is very rare. The size disparity in the sexes of Sharp-shinned Hawks actually influences the size of prey the hawk can catch. When this hawk catches its prey, it will take its food to a tree stump and pluck its feathers out before eating.

2. Cooper’s Hawk

Image: © Jean-Sébastien Mayer | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Accipiter cooperii

Length: 14.6-15.3 in (37-39 cm)

Weight: 7.8-14.5 oz (220-410 g)

Wingspan: 24.4-35.4 in (62-90 cm)

The upper parts of the adult Cooper’s Hawk are predominantly blue-grey, with cinnamon-colored streaks running down the underparts. The juvenile birds are brown on top and have a brown breast with dark brown stripes. In terms of size, these hawks are about the same as a crow. In comparison to other hawks, Cooper’s Hawks are medium-sized birds. This species has a broad and rounded set of wings, as well as a lengthy tail. They have a large head and broad shoulders with a rounded tail at the end of their long tails, which characterize these hawks

Cooper’s Hawks can be seen flapping their wings seldom as they span a large open area. To shock their prey, they prefer to attack by flying quickly and low to the ground before rising to fly around the other side of an obstruction.

Short to medium-distance migration is typical for the Cooper’s Hawk. Hawks can be found in the majority of the 48 states of the United States during the winter, and some migrate as far south as Mexico and even Honduras. In Iowa, they can be spotted at any time of year.

The Cooper’s Hawk will catch its prey with its feet, then to kill its food, the hawk will repeatedly squeeze on the prey. Unlike falcons, who bite their prey to kill it, Cooper’s Hawks hold onto the prey away from the body until it dies.

Cooper’s Hawks can live quite long, the oldest recorded bird was a whopping 20 years and 4 months old. This hawk was first banded in 1986 in California and was later found in Washington in 2006.

3. Red-shouldered Hawk

Image: © Eric Keith | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Buteo lineatus

Length: 16.9-24.0 in (43-61 cm)

Weight: 17.1-27.3 oz (486-774 g)

Wingspan: 37.0-43.7 in (94-111 cm)

Between the size of a crow and a goose, the Red-shouldered Hawk has broad wings and moderately lengthed tails that fan out whilst gliding. The wings of these hawks are checkered dark and white, with barring on the breast area.

These hawks like to soar over forests and even perch on tree branches and utility wires. The Red-shouldered Hawks’ signature whistled, kee-rah, is a distinctive sound of the forest. This hawk likes to prey on small mammals, reptiles, and even amphibians.

This species of Hawk can only be found on the eastern outskirts of Iowa. The Red-shouldered Hawk is a resident to medium-distance migrant, the birds of the northeast and midwest will migrate south for winter.

The best way to spot these hawks is to learn their distinctive kee-rah whistle. Keep your ears open around wet forests to listen out for the Red-shouldered Hawk. When it comes springtime, you may see these hawks circling high above their nesting area.

A Red-shouldered Hawk in southern California had occupied a nesting territory for 16 consecutive years. These hawks will return to the same nesting area year after year.

The Red-shouldered Hawk has 5 different subspecies, 4 eastern forms, and a western form. The forms located in the eastern United States will contact each other, but separated by 1600 km (1000 mi) is the western form of the Red-shouldered Hawk. The form of this hawk that is found furthest north is the biggest. In southern Florida is located the palest form of this hawk.

The oldest-known Red-shouldered Hawk ever was a female bird located in California, she was 25 years and 10 months old. This hawk was first banded in 1974 and found in a base of operations in California in 2000.

4. Broad-winged Hawk

Image: © David Brown | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Buteo platypterus

Length: 13.4-17.3 in (34-44 cm)

Weight: 9.3-19.8 oz (265-560 g)

Wingspan: 31.9-39.4 in (81-100 cm)

Equipped with red-brown heads, barred underparts, and broad bands colored black-and-white on its tail, the Broad-winged Hawk is a small and compact hawk. They are slightly smaller than the Red-shouldered Hawk. This hawk has quite a chunky body and a large head, with a short and squared-off tail.

The Broad-winged Hawk likes to hunt for its prey on perches from underneath the forest canopy, however, sometimes they will soar up above the canopy and across gaps that pass over roads.

These hawks are long-distance migrants, they will migrate in large flocks called “kettles” that can have many individual birds, sometimes in the thousands. In Iowa, the Broad-winged Hawk can be spotted during its breeding season.

Broad-winged Hawks are more easily seen during their migration. You can spot these birds by going to hawkwatches, such as Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania, Hawk Ridge in Minnesota, and many more around the country.

A group of scientists had used satellite transmitters for tracking four Broad-winged Hawks, they were mostly tracked whilst they migrated south during the fall months. These hawks had migrated an average of 4,350 miles to the northern countries of South America. Whilst migrating, these Broad-winged Hawks would travel near 70 miles per day. But when they arrived at their wintering grounds, the hawks would not move around much, they would stay on average within 1-square-mile of their wintering area.

In places such as Puerto Rico, Florida, Virginia, Illinois, and Iowa, 400,000-year-old fossils of the Broad-winged Hawk from the Pleistocene period have been unearthed.

5. Swainson’s Hawk

Image: © Brian Sullivan | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Buteo swainsoni

Length: 18.9-22.1 in (48-56 cm)

Weight: 24.4-48.2 oz (693-1367 g)

Similar to most hawks, the Swainson’s Hawk is between the sizes of a crow and a goose. These hawks have broad wings with short tails. Swainson’s Hawks have light bellies and dark red-brown chests, their underparts are typically brown or grey.

Swainson’s Hawks are very social birds, they are almost always found in groups when out of the breeding season. You can spot them in a kettle of soaring birds, around the ground, on utility poles, and even on fence posts.

Almost all of the Swainson’s Hawk population will migrate from North America all the way down south to Argentina, for some, this is a 12,000-mile journey. In Iowa, this hawk can be spotted in the breeding season.

If you are west of the Mississippi river, your best bet at finding a Swainson’s Hawk is during summer, you can typically find them out in the open country. If there are no perches around, keep your eye on the ground in tilled agricultural fields, or in grassland.

This species of hawk likes to feed its chicks the normal North American buteo diet, “the three r’s”, rodents, reptiles, and rabbits. When the adult Swainson’s Hawk is breeding, it will switch up the diet to almost only insects, such as grasshoppers and even dragonflies.

In the 1800s the Swainson’s Hawk would often have its identity mistaken with the Common Buzzard. In 1827 a specimen was collected and illustrated in Canada by William Swainson, he confused this hawk with the European bird the Common Buzzard.

In 2012 a banded Swainson’s Hawk was captured in California, this hawk was the oldest ever recorded Swainson’s Hawk. This bird was first captured and banded in 1986, making the hawk at least 26 years and 1 month old.

6. Red-tailed Hawk

Image: © Brian Sullivan | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Buteo jamaicensis

Male

Length: 17.7-22.1 in (45-56 cm)

Weight: 24.3-45.9 oz (690-1300 g)

Wingspan: 44.9-52.4 in (114-133 cm)

Female

Length: 19.7-25.6 in (50-65 cm)

Weight: 31.8-51.5 oz (900-1460 g)

Wingspan: 44.9-52.4 in (114-133 cm)

Second to the Ferruginous Hawk, the Red-tailed Hawk is the second-largest Buteo hawk in all of North America. They are mostly a rich brown color above and a more pale color below. The tail of this hawk is a cinnamon-like red, as its name would suggest.

The most likely way you’ll see the Red-tailed Hawk is when it is flying in circles up high over an open field. They use a slow and controlled dive with outstretched legs when going after their prey.

These birds usually spend their year in North America, the Red-tailed Hawks that come from Alaska and Canada will fly south for the winter months. The Red-tailed Hawk can be spotted in Iowa all year long.

To find a Red-tailed Hawk, go out for a drive and keep your eyes peeled around fence posts and up in the sky. Odds are, the first hawk you spot will be a Red-tailed Hawk. Around a large majority of the continent, this hawk is more abundant in winter.

When a species of hawk or eagle appears on screen in a movie or a tv show, the raspy scream is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk. This hawk has a very thrilling and shrill cry, that Hollywood directors seem to think a raptor should sound.

Often spotted as a hunting pair guarding different sides of trees, the Red-tailed Hawk likes to hunt for squirrels. This hawk is one of the largest you could ever see in North America yet despite its great size, the biggest female weight maxes out at only three pounds. Similar-sized tiny dogs will weigh up to 10 times that.

7. Rough-legged Hawk

Image: © Bryce Robinson | Macaulay Library

Scientific name: Buteo platypterus

Length: 13.4-17.3 in (34-44 cm)

Weight: 9.3-19.8 oz (265-560 g)

Wingspan: 31.9-39.4 in (81-100 cm)

This hawk is quite a large hawk, with broad wings, a long narrow tail, and a fairly small bill. The Rough-legged Hawk is boldly patterned with dark wingtips and dark underparts.

Whilst hunting, the Rough-legged Hawk will often face the wind to glide and hover, as they do this, they survey the area for their prey of small mammals. This hawk likes to perch on utility poles and even fence posts.

The Rough-legged Hawk is a medium-distance migrant, they actually breed in the arctic. In Iowa, this hawk can be seen out of its breeding season.

These hawks breed in the arctic, meaning the best chance of spotting this bird will come in winter. Keep a lookout for the Rough-legged Hawk out in the open country, they are large and chunky.

The nest of the Rough-legged Hawk is usually located on a cliffside. This nest is composed of a bulky mass of sticks, and sometimes even caribou bones. A nesting pair of these hawks requires a large area of space, most of the time a single pair will occupy and nest on a quarter-mile-long cliff. Sometimes other species will nest within 100 feet of a nesting pair of Rough-legged Hawks, such as Peregrine Falcons, Common Ravens, or even Gyrfalcons.

Up until the early 20th century, Rough-legged Hawks would sometimes be used as treats for poultry. Since these hawks spend a large majority of their time in open spaces they would be an easy target for farmers to hunt. In the current day though, it is now illegal to hunt most wild birds including Rough-legged Hawks under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

8. Ferruginous Hawk

Scientific name: Buteo regalis

Length: 22.1-27.2 in (56-69 cm)

Weight: 34.5-73.2 oz (977-2074 g)

Wingspan: 52.4-55.9 in (133-142 cm)

The “light-morph” version of the Ferruginous Hawk has very striking white underparts with rusty legs. These hawks have quite long wings for their size and especially large heads. The Ferruginous Hawk is between the size of a crow and a goose.

Ferruginous Hawks like to soar with their wings raised and the wingtips held flat, they like to hover in the wind in place whilst they hunt. Sometimes these hawks will even hunt for prey on the ground.

The Ferruginous Hawk will most likely be found out in the open country, this bird will be seen as just a white speck soaring high in the sky. You may even see this hawk perched on a telephone pole, or on the ground where they can be quite tricky to spot.

Back when the west was roamed by bison, the nests of the Ferruginous Hawk would sometimes contain the bones of bison as well as hair, sticks, and twigs. The sticks these hawks use for nests can sometimes be too bulky and not easily weaved for tree nests, so Ferruginous Hawks will build on old pre-existing hawk or crow nests. Sometimes conservation managers will take advantage of this, and use it as an opportunity to help boost populations by providing artificial nests.

The name Ferruginous means rust-colored, this refers to the light morph hawk’s slightly red back and legs.’

In central Asia there is a bird that rivals the massive size of the Ferruginous Hawk, it is known as the Upland Buzzard. These birds may be close relatives of the Alaska-Siberia land bridge. Some Ferruginous Hawk fossils have been unearthed across the west and can be dated back to the late Pleistocene period.

9. Northern Goshawk

Scientific name: Accipiter gentilis

Length: 20.9-25.2 in (53-64 cm)

Weight: 22.3-48.1 oz (631-1364 g)

Wingspan: 40.5-46.1 in (103-117 cm)

Being the biggest and bulkiest of the accipiters by far, the Northern Goshawk has broad and rounded wings, with quite long tails. This hawk has secondary flight feathers that are relatively long, these feathers give the edge of the wings a curved or bulging appearance. The Northern Goshawk is a dark slate grey color up above, with pale grey bars on the underparts.

This hawk is a very stealthy predator, they like to watch out for prey high up in perches. When the Northern Goshawk attacks, they use their quick and agile flight to go through dense trees and even cluttered understory. When in normal flight, these hawks use very few slow wingbeats and short glides.

The Northern Goshawk is a resident to short-distance migrant. Younger birds in some regions will disperse from the northern breeding areas while the older birds stay behind. Every 10 or so years when larger-scale irruptions of this hawk moving from north to south actually cause the population of the snowshoe hare and grouse to drop. In Iowa, the Northern Goshawk can be spotted outside of the breeding season.

Typically living in large tracts of the forest, the Northern Goshawk is a very secretive bird. When in their nests these birds can be very vocal and fiercely defensive, they have even been known to attack people when they come too close to a nest. So take caution when approaching the Northern Goshawk when it is calling.

The name of the Northern Goshawk actually comes from the Old English term for “Goose Hawk”, this referred to the hawk’s habit of preying on other species of bird. For more than 2,000 years, falconers have trained Northern Goshawks, the name for these birds at one point was the “Cook’s Hawk”, as they were successful at snaring meat.

Hawk watching in Iowa

The diverse climate and terrain of the state make it an ideal location for hawk watching. There are plenty of hawks to observe and admire whether you are an expert or a beginner.

The weather and seasons, on the other hand, have an impact on your hawk-watching experience. Cold and wet weather can make it difficult to spot hawks in the winter. Hawks are more visible in the sky during the summer.

It is critical to dress appropriately for the weather when hawk watching in Iowa. Wear light, breathable clothing on hot days to stay cool and comfortable. Wear layers on cloudy days to stay warm and dry.

Hawk watching in Iowa is also possible from a variety of locations throughout the state. Hawks are frequently seen near open fields, grasslands, and water sources. Local parks are also excellent places to observe hawks because they provide a diverse range of habitats and food sources.

Binoculars are an excellent tool for observing hawks. Binoculars help you see hawks from a distance and identify the birds. Birdwatching books can also help with species identification.