Hawks exhibit varying mating behaviors when it comes to mate fidelity. Some hawks will stay with a single mate for life, while others will have multiple mates each breeding season.
Do hawks mate for life?
Not all hawks mate for life. However, some species like the Harris’s hawk and red-tailed hawk do tend to form long-term pair bonds and may stay with a single mate for multiple breeding seasons or for life.
Other hawks, like the Cooper’s hawk and sharp-shinned hawk, are serially monogamous. This means they will have a single mate each breeding season but will select a new mate the following year.
There are also polygamous hawk species that have multiple mates within a single breeding season, like the northern goshawk and red-shouldered hawk.
Hawk species that mate for life
Here are some of the hawk species known to form lifelong pair bonds:
- Harris’s hawk – Also called the bay-winged hawk. Native to the Americas. They can stay paired for up to 12 years in the wild.
- Red-tailed hawk – One of the most common North American hawks. They typically mate for life unless one dies, then the surviving mate may find a new partner.
- Red-shouldered hawk – Found in eastern North America. They often stay paired until one mate dies.
- Ferruginous hawk – The largest hawk native to North America. They tend to have lifelong bonds once paired.
These lifelong bonds are facilitated by the monogamous breeding system of these species. The male and female cooperate in nest building, hunting, and raising young which helps strengthen the pair bond over time.
Hawk species that are serially monogamous
Here are some of the hawk species that take a new mate each breeding season:
- Cooper’s hawk – Medium-sized woodland hawk of North America. Each year they find a new mate during the breeding season.
- Northern goshawk – Large raptor found in forests across the Northern Hemisphere. They do not maintain long-term bonds.
- Sharp-shinned hawk – Small hawk of North America. Males and females both may have multiple mates over time.
- Common black hawk – Found in the American Southwest. They have sequential seasonal pair bonds.
These hawks may exhibit site fidelity, returning to the same nesting area each year. However, they will select a new mate and do not maintain multi-year bonds.
Hawk species that are polygamous
Some hawks practice polygamy, where one male may have multiple female mates in a single season. Examples include:
- Northern goshawk – The male may have 2-3 mates simultaneously.
- Red-shouldered hawk – Males have been observed with up to three mates in one season.
- Zone-tailed hawk – A tropical raptor. Males mate with multiple females within a breeding season.
Having multiple mates allows the male to father more offspring each season. However, they provide no paternal care and do not maintain long-term bonds.
Why do some hawks mate for life?
There are several evolutionary theories as to why some hawk species form lifelong pair bonds while others have sequential mates:
- Monogamous breeding system – Lifelong mating allows for greater cooperation in raising young. The male assists the female in nest defense, hunting, and feeding which improves the survival of their joint offspring.
- Mate guarding – Remaining paired eliminates the need to guard a mate from competitors during each breeding season.
- Habitat stability – Long-term residency in a territory with stable habitat conditions favors retaining the same, experienced mate.
- High mate fidelity – Pair-bonding partially depends on individual faithfulness to the mate.
The evolutionary benefits of mate fidelity likely varies across species based on factors like breeding ecology, habitat, and population densities.
Pair bonding behaviors
Hawks use various behaviors to establish and maintain their pair bonds, including:
- Nest building together
- Coordinated hunting and feeding
- Duetting – Males and females calling back and forth
- Copulation – Having frequent sex helps maintain the bond
- “Greeting ceremonies” – Vocalizations and aerial displays upon reuniting
These bonding behaviors help coordinate the pair’s reproductive efforts for each breeding season. The behaviors are thought to stimulate the release of neurochemicals like oxytocin that reinforce pair attachment.
Do mated hawks roost together?
Many hawk species that maintain long-term bonds will roost near their mate, often in the same tree or nest structure outside of the breeding season:
- Red-tailed hawks may roost with their mate year-round.
- Harris’s hawks also continue to remain paired throughout the year.
- Northern goshawks that have nested together will roost in adjacent trees.
Roosting together outside of the breeding season allows the mated hawks to reestablish their bond. It also lets them coordinate behaviors like winter foraging and spring nesting.
Do both hawk parents raise the young?
In the hawk species that form permanent pair bonds, both the male and female are involved in raising offspring:
- The male helps build the nest structure.
- The female does the majority of incubating while the male provides food.
- Both parents hunt and deliver prey items to feed the chicks.
- They jointly defend the nest from predators and threats.
Biparental care improves chick survival rates. It also helps reinforce the long-term pair bond between the breeding adults.
In polygamous hawk species where males have multiple mates, only the female provides parental care while the male does not contribute.
What happens when a mated hawk dies?
When one member of a mated hawk pair dies, the surviving adult may quickly seek out a new mate:
- A widowed red-tailed hawk often returns to the same breeding grounds and establishes a pair bond with a new hawk.
- Harris’s hawks that lose their mate are able to find a suitable new partner within a few days.
- Northern goshawks appear to mourn for several days but then display to attract a new mate.
Re-mating rapidly allows the surviving adult to breed again the following season. However, the new pair may take several seasons to establish the same level of breeding coordination.
If a mate dies during the breeding season, the surviving adult may continue raising the chicks as a single parent or abandon the nest. Much depends on timing and the age of the chicks.
Do mated hawks interact outside breeding season?
Hawk pairs that mate for life will remain in proximity and interact outside of the breeding season:
- They may roost together.
- Mates will forage together and share food.
- Pairs engage in frequent vocal duetting and aerial displays year-round.
- They help defend the territory from intrusions by other hawks.
- Pre-breeding courtship activities also help strengthen the pair bond.
Maintaining contact and interacting with the mate outside of nesting season is key to reinforcing the long-term attachment between the pair.
For serially monogamous hawks, the prior year’s mates likely tolerate each other on shared breeding grounds but do not actively interact or forage together outside of the breeding season.
Do mated hawks perch together?
It is common to observe mated hawk pairs perching or roosting close together, often on branches that touch:
- Red-tailed hawks may perch side-by-side on the same tree, mating pole, or telephone pole.
- Northern goshawks in lifelong pairs will perch and preen each other.
- Harris’s hawk mates may perch together between coordinated hunting forays.
Perching close allows mated hawks to reinforce social pair bonds through physical contact. It also facilitates behaviors like allopreening to clean each other’s feathers.
In general, a tight perching proximity represents a strong pair affiliation between two hawks.
How do mated hawks communicate?
Hawk pairs use various forms of communication to coordinate breeding, hunting, and territorial defense:
- Vocalizations – Calling, duetting, and greeting ceremonies.
- Displays – Sky dances, twirling flights, and food exchanges mid-air.
- Tactile – Touching bills, preening, mating.
- Nest behaviors – Joint nest construction, incubation, and feeding.
Vocalization allows long-distance communication while displays, touch, and nest behaviors help hawks interact at closer range.
Their complex signaling repertoire enables coordinated breeding across years for pair-bonded hawks.
Do mated hawks hunt together?
Cooperative hunting is common among hawk species that mate for life:
- Harris’s hawks coursing prey together in coordinated packs.
- Red-tailed hawk pairs hunting in loose tandem.
- Northern goshawks may alternately flush and ambush prey.
Joint hunting improves capture success rates and allows mates to share food. This helps strengthen pair affiliation.
In contrast, serially monogamous hawks like Cooper’s hawks hunt alone outside of the breeding season and do not coordinate foraging with a prior mate.
How do hawks attract or select a mate?
Hawks use complex courtship behaviors to attract, assess, and select a suitable mate:
- Sky dancing – Acrobatics and dives to showcase flying skill.
- Aerial food exchanges – Passing prey mid-flight to prospective mates.
- Nestshows – Males lure females to potential nest sites.
- Vocalizations – Calling and duetting with potential mates.
- Displays – Puffed-up feathers, open wings, waving.
Females observe and judge male courtship skills. The most impressive and vigorous displays tend to win a mate.
Existing pairs also perform these behaviors each spring to renew their pair bond.
Do mated hawks keep their own territory?
Most pair-bonded hawks remain resident in the same breeding territory across years:
- Red-tailed hawks defend the area around their nest site.
- Northern goshawks maintain exclusive breeding home ranges.
- Harris’s hawks cooperatively defend shared nesting grounds.
Sticking to one territory with known resources favors repeatedly breeding there with the same long-term mate.
Some migrants like Swainson’s hawks display site fidelity, returning to the same nesting locale each spring after wintering elsewhere.
How do hawks react to losing their mate?
When a mated hawk dies, the surviving individual may initially exhibit mourning-like behaviors:
- Northern goshawks calling and circling over the area.
- Red-tails remaining near the deceased mate for several days.
- Changes in vocalizations and interactions with others.
However, most hawks will quickly begin displays to attract a new mate within days or weeks. Rapid re-mating allows them to breed again during the current season.
Some signs of a hawk seeking a mate:
- Frequent mating calls from multiple perches
- Sky dancing and aerial displays
- Returning frequently to old nests
- Aggression toward potential rivals
With a new mate, the bereaved individual can rapidly return to coordinated breeding activities.
Do mated hawks share the same nest?
In pair-bonded hawk species, the male and female cooperate in building the same nest structure each breeding season:
- Red-tailed hawks add fresh twigs and branches to old nests.
- Harris’s hawks work together weaving thorny branches.
- Ferruginous hawks jointly arrange sticks on ledges or cliffs.
Nest building promotes close contact and synchrony between the mates.
Many pairs show high nest fidelity, returning to the same site across years. However, they may also build a new nest within their breeding territory each season.
Conclusion
In summary, some hawks demonstrate lifelong monogamy and remain with a single mate year after year. This includes the Harris’s hawk, red-tailed hawk, and ferruginous hawk. Their long-term pair bonds are reinforced through coordinated nesting, hunting, and territorial activities.
Other hawk species like the Cooper’s hawk and northern goshawk are serially monogamous, acquiring a new mate each breeding season. They do not exhibit the same degree of mate fidelity across years.
A few hawks such as the red-shouldered hawk may be polygamous with one male mating with multiple females. However, polygamy is less common among hawks than serial monogamy.
Mate fidelity in hawks is believed to evolve where breeding cooperation improves reproduction and survival. Though when a hawk loses its longtime mate, re-mating soon after facilitates future breeding attempts.
References
[1] Liguori, J. (2005). Hawks from every angle: How to identify raptors in flight. Princeton University Press.
[2] Arroyo, B., Mougeot, F., & Bretagnolle, V. (2017). Individual variation in behavioural responsiveness to humans leads to differences in breeding success in red kites. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1(3), 1-5.
[3] Boal, C. W., & Andersen, D. E. (2005). Nestling sex ratio in Cooper’s hawks. The Wilson Bulletin, 117(4), 352-356.
[4] Rosenfield, R. N., & Bielefeldt, J. (2006). Lifetime nesting area fidelity in male Cooper’s Hawks. The Condor, 108(2), 421-426.
[5] Bednarz, J. C., & Ligon, J. D. (1988). A study of the ecological bases of cooperative breeding in the Harris’ hawk. Ecology, 1176-1187.
Additional facts on hawk mating behaviors
Here are some additional facts and research on how different hawk species attract and interact with mates:
- Male northern harriers perform elaborate sky dancing displays, plunging and soaring to impress females.
- Swainson’s hawks show high mate and nest fidelity, though pairs split up during migration.
- During courtship, a male red-shouldered hawk may present prey items to a prospective female.
- Prairie falcon pairs coordinate spectacular high-speed dives as part of bonding displays.
- Male sharp-shinned hawks bring food to the female before mating to establish pair bonds.
- Eurasian sparrowhawks show high nesting site fidelity but frequently change mates between years.
- Pairs of red-shouldered hawks may add green twigs to their nest each spring as part of courtship.
The mating behaviors of different hawk species have been extensively studied by raptor biologists. While mating for life is common in some species, serial monogamy prevails in most North American hawks. Fidelity to a breeding locale is also key to understanding hawk pair bonds.
Comparison of monogamous vs. non-monogamous hawk species
Here is a table comparing some key traits of monogamous hawk species that mate for life versus non-monogamous hawks with sequential mates:
| Traits | Monogamous Hawks | Non-Monogamous Hawks |
|---|---|---|
| Mate fidelity | High, lifelong bonds | Low, new mates each season |
| Number of mates per season | One | One or more |
| Nest fidelity | High, reuse nests | Low, build new nests |
| Breeding coordination | High between pair | Low between mates |
| Non-breeding activities | Forage, roost together | Mostly solitary |
In summary, monogamous hawks demonstrate greater mate, nest, and breeding fidelity across years compared to the non-monogamous species. Lifelong pairs also coordinate more activities outside of the breeding season.
Conclusion
In summary, some hawks demonstrate lifelong monogamy and remain with a single mate year after year. This includes the Harris’s hawk, red-tailed hawk, and ferruginous hawk. Their long-term pair bonds are reinforced through coordinated nesting, hunting, and territorial activities.
Other hawk species like the Cooper’s hawk and northern goshawk are serially monogamous, acquiring a new mate each breeding season. They do not exhibit the same degree of mate fidelity across years.
A few hawks such as the red-shouldered hawk may be polygamous with one male mating with multiple females. However, polygamy is less common among hawks than serial monogamy.
Mate fidelity in hawks is believed to evolve where breeding cooperation improves reproduction and survival. Though when a hawk loses its longtime mate, re-mating soon after facilitates future breeding attempts.
