Fun Long-tailed Hawk Facts For Kids

The long-tailed hawk is a bird of north, central and south Africa. They mostly dominate southern and eastern Africa. The rainforests of North Africa have fewer individuals.

Although these birds are territorial, they are known to travel to nearby villages in search of adequate food. These hawks are very common in these forests and can be spotted during their flight across open areas or roads. The species are mostly accustomed to treetops and are only seen on the ground to hunt for food.

The adults have a blue-gray pair of wings with symmetrical white crossbars on the tail. The upper plumage is gray while the thighs have a shade of chestnut.

They have a prominent reddish-yellow eye with the feet having a pale yellowish shade and the head being black. The wings of the young birds have dark brown or a blue-gray shade with tawny marks on the tail. The underparts of the wings are brown and white with the head being dark gray or black.

If you liked reading this, you might want to know about brown hawk owl and brown goshawk.

Long-Tailed Hawk Interesting Facts

What type of animal is a long-tailed hawk?

The long-tailed hawk of the family Accipitridae is a bird that has a long tail. Hawks are birds of prey and the only living member of the genus Urotriorchis.

What class of animal does a long-tailed hawk belong to?

This hawk belongs to the Aves class of animals. The species is a raptor that is a part of the Chordata phylum.

How many long-tailed hawks are there in the world?

Being the single member of the Urotriorchis genus currently present in the world, these birds are listed under the Least Concern category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Even though they are listed under the Least Concern category, the exact numbers of individuals are not known.

Where does a long-tailed hawk live?

These hawks are mostly found in western and in central parts of Africa. These birds have a definite range and dominate the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in the west to Angola situated in the north.

Apart from that, these hawks can be spotted in the southern range of the Central African Republic and the northern range of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Few birds have been located in the southern parts of Sudan, as well as, the range including the western part of Uganda.

What is a long-tailed hawk's habitat?

The long-tailed hawk habitat includes rainforests and open areas of the central and the southern parts of Africa. They are extremely silent creatures living in the denser parts of the forests. These birds are mostly sedentary that breed and live in the same area. They build a nest in the tall trees of the rainforest.

Who do long-tailed hawks live with?

Due to the secretive habits of this species, not much information is known regarding the living style. Although it is predicted that the birds live in pairs. A cluster of pairs can be spotted in the nest situated in the treetops of the rainforests.

How long does a long-tailed hawk live?

Hawks, in general, are known to have an average lifespan of around 12 years in the wild. However, the life span of this bird is not known.

How do they reproduce?

This medium-sized hawk is a silent and secretive bird. According to research, hawks are mostly monogamous and are known to breed during the months of July and August.

During this time, the adults are seen to build the nest in the treetops. The treetops help and allow the adults to prey on mammals and small birds for food. The nest is usually flat with a shallow structure within.

This species is known to produce at least one young hawk in a single breeding season. The adults feed the young hawks until they attain sexual maturity.

What is their conservation status?

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the species is listed under the Least Concern category. Even though the exact numbers of this species are not known, there has been a decreasing trend in their population. The decreasing trend has been recorded mostly due to the loss and fragmentation of their habitats.

Long-Tailed Hawk Fun Facts

What do long-tailed hawks look like?

The long-tailed hawk is a hawk with a long, dark, and distinctive tail. The main identification of the bird can be done by its tail which has a length that is longer than its entire body including the head and the entire body length.

They have curved and short wings. The color range varies from adults to young birds. The adults have dark grayish plumage, while the babies have white plumage with gray spots.

*We've been unable to source an image of a long-tailed hawk and have used an image of a sharp-shinned hawk instead. If you are able to provide us with a royalty-free image of a long-tailed hawk, we would be happy to credit you. Please contact us at hello@kidadl.com.

How cute are they?

Needless to say, these medium-sized hawks are extremely cute. The sophisticated coloration of blue-gray-brown with a black head makes the bird look shiny and attractive. The main identification is the tail which is longer than the entire body and makes them look longer than other hawks.

How do they communicate?

These hawks are silent creatures and are very secretive with their lifestyle. They communicate through calls that are generally long and have a long and loud stretch.

How big is a long-tailed hawk?

This species has a length of 22-27.6 in (56-70 cm). These hawks are slightly bigger than red-tailed hawks.

How fast can a long-tailed hawk fly?

This species are great fliers and are known to have strong flight patterns to help them spot prey from a greater height. However, their exact speed is not known.

How much does a long-tailed hawk weigh?

The weight of the hawk is around 1.1 lb (492 g). The males are slightly bulkier than the females.

What are the male and female names of the species?

A male of this species is referred to as cock and a female is referred to as hen.

What would you call a baby long-tailed hawk?

A baby or young bird is called a chick.

What do they eat?

This birds are carnivores in nature and mostly feed on the mammals like squirrels, smaller birds, or even attack poultries in the nearby villages to hunt chickens.

Are they dangerous?

This bird is not dangerous to humans but is known to attack poultries for chickens.

Would they make a good pet?

Being secretive birds of the wild, they are not considered to be good pets for humans.

Did you know...

One fun fact about this bird is that the tail of this species is almost 56% of the total length of the body.

Hawks are known to kill their prey by breaking their necks.

Hawks are known to be extremely smart with great vision.

Some hawks living in this world have yellow beaks, however most have dark-colored beaks.

How many types of hawks are there?

In the whole wide world, there are almost 200 hawks present at the present. Out of these 200, almost 25 are present in the United States of America.

Why is it called the long-tailed hawk?

Since the tail of the bird is longer than the entire hawk including the head and the body, they derived the name of long-tailed hawk.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds from our sea eagle, or sharp-shinned hawk.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable bird coloring pages.

Main image: Francesco Veronesi from Italy

Second image: Dmitry Brant