One of the Caribbean’s rarest birds of prey — a small, resilient raptor found only in the Dominican Republic, with its last stronghold in Los Haitises National Park. Compact and agile, this hawk has a slate-gray head, brownish upperparts, barred underparts, and piercing yellow eyes. Its size is modest compared to other Buteo hawks, but what it lacks in bulk, it makes up for in adaptability. It hunts everything from lizards and insects to rodents, snakes, and occasionally small birds, making it a flexible predator in a landscape that has changed drastically over the past century.

Ridgway’s hawk occupies a mix of tropical dry forest, humid forest, and agricultural edges, often nesting in tall native trees or, increasingly, in human-altered landscapes. One of the species’ most fascinating traits is its resilience: despite heavy habitat loss, it has learned to survive in fragmented forests, farmland, and even near rural communities. Pairs are strongly territorial and typically mate for life, returning year after year to the same nest tree. Their breeding season begins in early spring, when the pair repairs an old nest or builds a new one — a stick platform lined with greenery — and raises one to three chicks.

The species is listed as Critically Endangered, with its population once reduced to only a few dozen pairs. The biggest threat is habitat loss, as forests were cleared for agriculture and development. But its most unusual and unexpected problem is botflies — parasitic larvae whose infestations can kill nestlings. Without intervention, many chicks would not survive to fledging. Conservationists from the Peregrine Fund and local partners now treat nests to protect chicks from botflies, greatly improving survival rates.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Dominican Republic

2020

Haiti

2020