Ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4

Distribution

The Ferruginous Hawk breeds mostly in western North America from southern Canada (between the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains) southwards to northern Arizona and New Mexico (Figure 1). In Canada it occurs in southeastern Alberta (Figure 2; Semenchuk 1992, Downey 2006), southern Saskatchewan (Smith 1996), and extreme southwestern Manitoba (Manitoba Naturalists Society 2003). In British Columbia, the only confirmed breeding record was in 1968; it has been suspected that Ferruginous Hawks have bred since then in central southern interior B.C.because of the occasional presence of summering birds there (Campbell et al. 1990).

In the United States, the species breeds southwards from Canada through central and western parts of North and South Dakota (sparingly across northeastern South Dakota to Roberts and Duel Counties), western Nebraska, westernmost Kansas (from Cove county, west), Thompson and Ely, Cimarron and Texas counties (Oklahoma), the northwest corner of the Texas Panhandle, and northern New Mexico and Arizona west to the Great Basin (eastern Nevada but breeding sparingly in the west), the Columbia River Basin regions of eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington (Bechard and Schmutz 1995).

In winter it is found from California, southern Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and western Kansas south to central Mexico.

Canadaholds about 10% of the world’s breeding distribution of the Ferruginous Hawk; estimates range from 8.4% (NatureServe data, P. Blancher pers. comm. 2007) to 12% (Schmutz and Schmutz 1980). Schmutz and Schmutz (1980) estimate that it now occupies only 48% of its historical range in Canada. The Canadian range now covers about 200,000 km², of which about 20,000 km² is actually used by Ferruginous Hawks (assuming 2000 pairs, each using a territory of about 10 km²).

Figure 1. The distribution of the Ferruginous Hawk (from Downey 2006).

Figure 1. The distribution of the Ferruginous Hawk (from Downey 2006).

Figure 2. Ferruginous Hawk sightings in Albertafrom 1958 to 2005; grey line indicates edge of historical range (from Downey 2006).

Figure 2. Ferruginous Hawk sightings in Albertafrom 1958 to 2005; grey line indicates edge of historical range (from Downey 2006).

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