Galapagos hawk facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Galápagos hawk |
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| Adult on Santa Fe Island | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Buteo
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| Species: |
galapagoensis
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The Galápagos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) is a large hawk found only on the Galápagos Islands. This special bird is an endemic species, meaning it lives naturally in just one place in the world.
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About the Galápagos Hawk
The Galápagos hawk is similar in size to other large hawks found in North America, like the red-tailed hawk. However, its size can vary quite a bit depending on which island it lives on. This is common for many animals in the Galápagos.
These hawks are quite strong and heavy. In fact, among the Buteo hawks in the Americas, the Galápagos hawk is the second heaviest! It can be about 45 to 58 centimeters (18 to 23 inches) long from its beak to its tail. Its wings can spread out from 116 to 140 centimeters (45 to 55 inches).
Hawks on different islands have different average weights:
- On Marchena Island, males weigh about 844 grams (1.86 pounds), and females weigh about 1,223 grams (2.69 pounds).
- On Santiago Island, males weigh about 963 grams (2.12 pounds), and females weigh about 1,295 grams (2.85 pounds).
- On Española Island, these hawks are the largest. Males average 1,137 grams (2.5 pounds), and females average 1,578 grams (3.48 pounds).
Adult Galápagos hawks are usually a dark brownish-black color. Their tail is silvery-grey with thin black stripes. Their eyes are brown, and their beak is greyish-black with a paler base called the 'cere'. Their legs and feet are yellow. Like many birds of prey, the male hawk is smaller than the female.
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Young hawks look quite different from adults. They are mostly brown with stripes on their undersides and lighter spots on their backs. This helps them blend in with their surroundings, keeping them safe until they grow up. Their eyes are light grey-brown, and their beak is black with a blue-grey base.
The Galápagos hawk has wide wings and a broad tail. It is an apex predator, meaning it is at the top of its food chain. It also has amazing eyesight, which helps it spot prey from far away.
Habitat and Diet
This hawk mostly eats insects like locusts and giant centipedes. It also hunts racer snakes, lava lizards, and small animals like rodents. These rodents include native Galápagos rice rats and introduced animals like house mice and black rats.
Sometimes, these hawks will hunt marine iguanas, especially babies and young ones. They can even take down larger animals that weigh as much as or more than they do! They also eat young tortoises, sea turtles, and land iguanas. They might even hunt young Galápagos sea lions, feral pigs, and goats.
Birds are also on their menu, from eggs to adult birds. This includes Galapagos Doves, Galapagos Mockingbirds, and Darwin's finches. They also eat seabirds like Audubon's Shearwaters and the eggs and chicks of swallow-tailed gulls. They have even been seen hunting young blue-footed boobys. Besides live prey, they also eat dead animals, like seals or fish scraps.
Galápagos hawks often hunt in groups of two or three. They fly high in the sky, about 50 to 200 meters (160 to 650 feet) up. When one hawk sees food, like prey or a dead animal, it signals to the others. The strongest hawk in the group eats first, and the others wait patiently for their turn. These hawks like to sit on lava rocks or high branches when hunting, but they also spend time on the ground.
These hawks are not afraid of people. Young hawks are especially curious and might even wander around human camps looking for food. In 1845, Charles Darwin wrote about how fearless they were:
"A gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk out of the branch of a tree..."
Behavior and Reproduction
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Because the Galápagos Islands are near the equator, the seasons do not change much. This means there is no specific mating season for the hawks; they can mate at any time of the year. Mating often happens several times a day on a branch or even while flying.
Sometimes, a female hawk will mate with more than one male, even up to seven different males! During the nesting period, the female and all the males she has mated with will take turns protecting the nest, sitting on the eggs, and feeding the young. There isn't a clear leader among them.
Nests are built low in trees, on lava ledges, or sometimes even on the ground. Hawks use the same nests for many years, so they can become quite large, sometimes up to four feet wide. They build these stick nests and line them with soft materials like grass, bark, or leaves.
Usually, one to three greenish-white eggs are laid. However, it's rare for all three eggs to hatch and survive. Often, only one young hawk grows up from each nest. Groups where a female mates with multiple males tend to raise more young than pairs with just one male and one female. Young hawks leave the nest when they are about 50 to 60 days old. They won't join the breeding areas until they are about three years old, when they become old enough to have their own young.
Voice
The Galápagos hawk makes a series of short screams. It sounds a bit like a "keer, keeu" or a "kwee". They are especially noisy during mating season. Their call becomes softer, sounding like "kilp, kilp, kilp".
Conservation Status
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We don't know the exact number of Galápagos hawks, but it's believed there are only about 150 mating pairs left today. This number has improved a little in recent years, but it's much lower than when they were first discovered on all the islands.
Sadly, the Galápagos hawk is now extinct on several islands, including Baltra, Daphne Major, Floreana, San Cristóbal, and North Seymour. This is due to human activities that disturb their homes, a shrinking food supply because new predators were brought to the islands, and people sometimes harming them.
Evolution
Scientists have studied the DNA of the Galápagos hawk and its closest relative, Swainson's hawk. They believe that the ancestors of the Galápagos hawk arrived on the islands about 300,000 years ago. This makes them one of the most recent native species to arrive. For comparison, Darwin's finches are thought to have arrived much earlier, about 2 to 3 million years ago.
See also
In Spanish: Ratonero de las Galápagos para niños
