Jamaican red-tailed hawk
The Jamaican red-tailed hawk is the nominate subspecies of the red-tailed hawk, a bird of prey of North America. The subspecies B. j. jamaicensis occurs in the northern West Indies, including Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles but not the Bahamas or Cuba. El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico, holds some of the highest known density of red-tailed hawks. The bird is referred to as a guaraguao in the island. This is the smallest bodied subspecies of red-tailed hawk. In males, the wing chord can range from, averaging, and, in females, it ranges from, averaging. Additionally, males and females average in tail length, in tarsal length and in culmen length. In terms of body mass, two Puerto Rican males were found to average and two females averaged. Although claimed as the most sexually dimorphic subspecies by size, neither body mass nor linear dimensions seem to support this. This subspecies has less mottling than northern red-tails on the back, lacks the white tip at the end of the rectrices and, most characteristically, has a very broad, but raggedly edged, and black belly band.
