9 Types of Hawks in Massachusetts (And How to Identify Each One)
October 3, 2026
Nine types of hawks in Massachusetts share the state’s forests, marshes, and suburban backyards over the course of a typical year, and most of them fall into two very different hunting camps. Bulky, broad-winged buteos soar over highway medians and farm fields, while slender accipiters thread through forest branches chasing songbirds. A third bird altogether, the Osprey, does its hunting over open water instead of land.
The comeback of some of these species is one of the better conservation stories in New England. After DDT was banned in 1972, state conservation agencies and organizations like Mass Audubon began working to help jumpstart the population, and they have definitely come back, with Massachusetts now home to more than 80 breeding pairs of Red-tailed Hawks alone. The sections below cover all nine species confirmed in the state, including how each one hunts, where it nests, and the field marks that separate a Cooper’s Hawk from a Sharp-shinned Hawk at a glance — details that also apply broadly to hawks across North America.
| Species | Relative Size | Primary Habitat | Best Season to Spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red-tailed Hawk | Large | Open country, roadsides, suburbs | Year-round |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | Medium | Lowland and swamp forest | Spring through fall |
| Cooper’s Hawk | Medium | Woodlands, parks, towns | Year-round |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | Small | Forest edges, conifers | Fall migration, winter |
| Northern Goshawk | Large accipiter | Dense mature forest | Uncommon, year-round |
| Rough-legged Hawk | Large | Open fields, marshes | Winter |
| Broad-winged Hawk | Small | Deciduous woodland | Spring and fall migration |
| Northern Harrier | Medium | Grasslands, marshes | Year-round, peaks in migration |
| Osprey | Large | Rivers, lakes, coast | Spring through fall |
1. Red-tailed Hawk
The Buteo jamaicensis is the bird most people picture when they hear the word hawk. This is the most common hawk in Massachusetts, seen in cities, suburbs, and the countryside, usually perched on a highway light pole or circling high over open ground.
Adults are easy to confirm once you know the trick: only adults sport a red tail, while juveniles are the same size as adults but keep their brown tail feathers for a year after they’re born. The Audubon Field Guide describes it as the most widespread and familiar large hawk in North America, bulky and broad-winged, designed for effortless soaring.
Diet leans heavily on rodents. It feeds primarily on squirrels and other small mammals, and rarely presents any threat to humans or pets, which makes it a welcome presence for anyone keeping farm animals in Massachusetts and dealing with barn rodents rather than free-ranging poultry.
Nesting pairs favor tall trees at the edge of mature forest. Nests are generally placed in trees near the edge of a tract of mature forest, and Massachusetts nests have been recorded in White Pine, Black Gum, American Beech, and several species of oaks, according to Mass Audubon’s Breeding Bird Atlas. The call is unmistakable once heard: a hoarse descending scream that, once recognized, will not be readily forgotten, and Blue Jays can mimic the call well.
Key Insight: Buteos like the Red-tailed Hawk have broad, rounded wings and short, fanned tails built for soaring. Accipiters have short, rounded wings and long tails built for quick turns through trees. Learning that silhouette difference solves most hawk identification questions before you even see a color pattern.
2. Red-shouldered Hawk
The Buteo lineatus has one of the more dramatic population histories among Massachusetts raptors. It was largely absent from Massachusetts until about 1870, began increasing rapidly after 1885, and by the early 1900s had become one of the commonest hawks in the state before declining by 1960 due to pesticides and habitat destruction, per Mass Audubon.
Today the species is patchy but present. Red-shouldered Hawks nest sparingly throughout the state, except on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, where they are absent, and the species is most numerous in western Massachusetts — a concentration in mature bottomland forest that mirrors the strongholds described for hawks in Ohio.
Habitat needs are specific. The Red-shouldered Hawk is a bird of lowland forest and swampy areas, with ideal habitat associated with beaver ponds and adjacent streams, plus mature hardwoods nearby to provide nesting sites. They also arrive early: Red-shouldered Hawks are among the first birds to return to the area in spring, arriving about the same time as male Red-winged Blackbirds.
Diet centers on wetland prey. Red-shouldered Hawks primarily eat small vertebrates, including small mammals, amphibians, and occasionally small songbirds and doves. Pairs are loyal to a single territory, since the nest from the previous season is often repaired and reused, not uncommonly for seven or more years in a row.
3. Cooper’s Hawk
The Accipiter cooperii is a mid-sized bird-hunter that has adapted better to human neighborhoods than almost any other hawk on this list. The pesticide DDT caused large declines in Cooper’s Hawk populations in the 1950s and 60s but, since then, this species has regained its numbers and become a common bird, according to Birdzilla’s Massachusetts hawk guide.
In many neighborhoods it has simply moved in. This hawk has become adapted to people and catches birds and small mammals in woodlands and towns, ambushing songbirds and mid-sized birds around backyard feeders. Anyone who keeps pigeons in Massachusetts has likely seen a Cooper’s Hawk make a run at the coop, since dove- and pigeon-sized birds sit near the top of its preferred prey list.
Nests are built high and out of easy view. The species builds a bulky stick nest in a tall tree and, during the breeding season, gives a loud barking call that carries through the woods — useful for locating a nest before you ever spot the bird itself.
4. Sharp-shinned Hawk
The Accipiter striatus is the accipiter most likely to be mistaken for something else, mostly because of its size. Sharp-shinned hawks are probably the smallest hawks in Massachusetts, barely larger than a Blue Jay, which makes silhouette and flight pattern more useful for identification than color.
Habitat is broad within the forest category. Sharp-shinned hawks live in a wide range of habitats, including forest edges, open deciduous woodlands, and coniferous forests, per A-Z Animals. They share that forested range with breeding populations further north, including the boreal woodlands covered in the guide to hawks in Maine.
Telling the three Massachusetts accipiters apart comes down to size and proportion more than plumage:
- Sharp-shinned Hawk: smallest, with a squared-off tail tip and a head that barely projects past the wings in flight
- Cooper’s Hawk: noticeably larger, with a rounded tail tip and a head that projects well forward of the wings
- Northern Goshawk: largest by a wide margin, broad-chested, with a pale eyebrow stripe on adults
5. Northern Goshawk
The Accipiter gentilis is the heavyweight of the three Massachusetts accipiters, and it is also the least often seen. One Western Massachusetts birder notes that the American Goshawk is more likely to be seen now but is still pretty rare in the area, a pattern consistent with reports from across the state.
What the goshawk lacks in numbers it makes up for in temperament. Mass Audubon reports that they “will not hesitate to attack a passerby” near an active nest, according to the same Western Mass Hawks field notes. This defensive streak is well documented among nesting goshawks throughout their forested range, similar to the dense mountain woodland populations described for hawks in Colorado.
Important Note: If a hiking trail passes near a goshawk nest during breeding season, give it a wide detour. Nesting goshawks have been known to dive at people who linger too close, and the safest response is simply to move on rather than try to get a closer look.
6. Rough-legged Hawk
The Buteo lagopus is a winter visitor rather than a year-round resident. Rough-legged hawks are arctic breeders but often move south to Massachusetts in the winter, arriving from tundra nesting grounds far to the north once cold weather sets in.
Habitat preference narrows the search considerably. Look for these overwintering birds in their preferred habitat of large, open fields, where they often hover in place while scanning for voles, a hunting technique that sets them apart from the perch-and-wait style of many other buteos. Massachusetts winter fields resemble the wide grassland wintering grounds described for hawks in Kansas, another state where this arctic species shows up seasonally.
7. Broad-winged Hawk
The Buteo platypterus is the smallest and most compact buteo breeding in Massachusetts, a woodland hawk that spends the summer well hidden in mixed forest and becomes far more visible in September. It nests in deciduous stands and hunts a mix of small mammals, amphibians, and large insects from a low forest perch.
Its real claim to fame is migration. Broad-winged Hawks gather into large, swirling flocks known as kettles each fall as they funnel south toward Central and South America, riding thermals to conserve energy over the long trip — a pattern that carries them along the same general corridor used by hawks migrating through Texas later in their journey south.
Pro Tip: Mid-September is peak Broad-winged Hawk migration in Massachusetts. Hilltop lookouts in the central part of the state, including Wachusett Mountain, regularly report hundreds of birds passing overhead on a single good flight day with steady northwest winds.
8. Northern Harrier
The Circus hudsonius hunts differently than any other hawk on this list, and its silhouette gives it away instantly. The Northern Harrier is most often seen on the wing as it flies low over open country, and its owl-like face and white rump patch are the best field marks for identification.
That owl-like facial disc is not just for show — it helps the bird hear rodents moving through grass it cannot see over. Harriers depend on large, undisturbed grasslands and coastal marshes, habitat types that have shrunk considerably across New England, making the species one worth tracking alongside other endangered animals in Massachusetts that rely on open-land habitat.
Unlike the solitary hunting style of most hawks, harriers often course back and forth over the same field for extended stretches, tilting side to side barely above the grass tops before dropping suddenly onto prey.
9. Osprey
The Pandion haliaetus stands apart from every other bird on this list taxonomically and behaviorally. It eats almost nothing but fish, hunting by hovering over water and then diving feet-first with talons extended, sometimes submerging entirely before hauling itself back into the air with a fish gripped facing forward for less wind resistance.
The species’ recovery mirrors the broader raptor comeback story in the state. After DDT was banned in 1972, state conservation agencies and organizations like Mass Audubon began working to help jumpstart the population, and they have definitely come back along rivers, reservoirs, and coastal estuaries across Massachusetts. Nest platforms placed on utility poles and channel markers, similar to conservation efforts documented for hawks in Oregon, have helped speed that recovery by giving pairs safe, elevated nesting sites near open water.
Ospreys build enormous stick nests that pairs return to and add onto year after year, sometimes growing them to several hundred pounds over multiple seasons. Watch for them along the Charles River, Westport River, and the North Shore estuaries from April through September, before they head south for the winter.
Massachusetts offers a genuine cross-section of North American raptor diversity in a fairly small area, from the tiny Sharp-shinned Hawk darting through forest understory to the fish-diving Osprey working open water. Learning the silhouette differences between buteos, accipiters, and harriers solves most identification puzzles before plumage details even come into play. Grab binoculars, head to an open field or a hilltop hawk-watch site during fall migration, and the state’s nine resident and visiting hawk species become far easier to tell apart than the field guides make them seem.