Professional and amateur bird watchers alike will find their fill of hawks in Michigan. The state boasts the significant and rich habitat of Lake Michigan coastlines, over 35 nature reserves, and is home to nine beautiful hawk species. If you go in pursuit of seeing one of these avian beauties, don’t forget Leave No Trace principles and binoculars! They’re a sight you won’t forget.
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The 9 Species of Hawks in Michigan
1. Sharp-Shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)
With fire in their eyes, ribbons of orange and white across their breast, and a bridge of yellow along their beaks, these incredible creatures may be most notable for their acrobatic gliding. Being on the smaller side for hawks, with long tails and short bodies, they easily dive through the conifer forests they tend to make their home in.
Quick and mischievous beings, they tend to surprise their prey which is often made up of other small birds like sparrows and robins. While they may be a predator to these songbirds, Sharp-Shinned Hawks are the prey of the much larger Northern Goshawk.
Identifying Features
Length: 9-13in (23-33cm)
Weight: 3-8 ounces (85-227g)
Wingspan: 17-22 inches (43-56cm)
White underwings, acrobatic flying, and the stripes of orange and white across their chest will be the most easily identified features.
Where to Find Them
- Year-Round: Southern Michigan
- Breeding Season: Northern Michigan
You can even find them in the winter. Keep your eye on the treeline and scan the forest’s edge. That will be your best chance.
2. Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
Red-eyed adults and yellow-eyed youth, Cooper’s Hawks can be seen giving a few powerful strokes of their wings and then gliding in flight. Until they see their prey, that is. When it comes to hunting they become both more powerful and agile as they swoop down on what is likely an unsuspecting bird, rodent, or reptile. While they tend towards other birds like woodpeckers and doves, Cooper’s Hawks tend to be opportunistic and eat whatever they can get.
Identifying Features
Length: 14-19in (35-48cm)
Weight: 8-21oz (226-595g)
Wingspan: 3ft (1m)
Bluish gray backs meet a darker, nearly black cap on Cooper’s Hawks. They also tend to have a striped breast but one of their most helpful identifiers is the black-banned tail that ends in a fringe of white.
Turns out, mushrooms and plants are not the only species with closely aligned lookalikes. Cooper’s Hawks are more common and more likely to be seen but they closely resemble their cousins the Northern Goshawks.
They also share a similar coloration to the Sharp-Shinned Hawk. Look to the tail for distinguishing factors between these two. The Cooper’s Hawk will have a more rounded tail.
Where to Find Them
- Year-Round: Southern Michigan
- Breeding Season: Northern Michigan
3. Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
The Northern Goshawk is one of the harder birds to identify on this list primarily because they don’t like to be found. These secretive creatures tend to keep to the deep forests and are fiercely protective of their nests. There are records of them attacking humans for getting too close! But if you’re abiding by Leave No Trace principles and intend on keeping your distance, your best chance at seeing them is in mid-to-late November.
Identifying Features
Length: 19-27in (48-68.5cm)
Weight: 1-3.5lbs (0.45-1.5kg)
Wingspan: 3-4ft. (1-1.2m)
Northern Goshawks are mostly gray and white. They have a particularly long tail that acts as a rudder, allowing them agility and grace in flight. The easiest way to distinguish them from the Cooper’s Hawk and the Sharp-Shinned Hawk is their significantly larger size and the distinctive white band that acts as an eyebrow over their sharp red eyes.
Where to Find Them
- Year-Round: Northern Michigan
- Non-Breeding Season: Southern Michigan
4. Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Common all over North America, chances are you’ve seen one simply driving around town. If you haven’t yet, keep your eye out for these short-tailed, rounded-wing beauties. They tend to swoop over large fields and valleys looking for rodents or other prey.
Identifying Features
Length: 18-26in (46-66cm)
Weight: 24-51.5oz (.7-1.5kg)
Wingspan: 38-43in (96.5-109cm)
The short tail and round wings are fairly unique to this bird so that should give you a good start in identifying a Red-Tailed Hawk. They tend to have a reddish hue but there is a large variety to this and not all of them have it. Given how common they are across ecosystems and habitats, including the occasional dip into urban areas, chances are a red-tailed hawk will be the first you see.
Where to Find Them
- Year-Round: Most of Michigan
- Breeding Season: Northern Michigan
5. Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Their name comes from the distinct, ruddy red color over their wing coverts. The Red-Shouldered Hawk seems to be the daytime counterpart of the Barred Owl with scientists noticing that their primary behavior differences lie in when they sleep.
Identifying Features
Length: 17-24in (43-61cm)
Weight: 1-1.5lbs (453-680g)
Wingspan: 3-4ft (91-121cm)
With a medium length-tail and rounded wings, their most distinctive feature lies in the way they spread their wingtips when they soar. It’s almost as if they’re reaching out to something as they fly. About the size of a crow, they are a bit smaller than many would imagine a hawk would be.
Where to Find Them
- Year-Round: Southern Michigan
- Breeding Season: Northwest Michigan
Seek out woodlands and swampy areas to set your sights on a Red-Shouldered Hawk. Use your ears to help you find them as their distinctive call – short, high-pitched, and almost a whine – is often heard before you see them.
6. Broad-Winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
Your best chance at finding a Broad-Winged Hawk will be in the Fall, during migration as they head West across the great lakes before traveling south to South and Central America. They travel in a flock known as a ‘kettle’. They tend to be rather inconspicuous most of the year but are a sight to behold as they migrate.
Identifying Features
Length: 13-17in (34-44cm)
Weight: 9-20oz (263-561g)
Wingspan: 3ft (1m)
A bit larger than a crow but still smaller than a goose, Broad-Winged Hawks boast reddish-brown heads and black and white banded tails. Adults will have horizontal ribbing bars across their chests while the juveniles’ stripes are likely to be vertical.
Where to Find Them
- Breeding Season: All of Michigan
Broad-Winged Hawks are only found in Michigan during the breeding season and as they move for migration. When at rest, they spend most of their time in thickly forested areas, beneath the canopy.
7. Rough-Legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus)
Be prepared to bundle up for the cold if you intend on going out to find one. They only spend their winters in Michigan. Your best chances of finding them are in fields, valleys, prairies, and other open and spacious regions.
Identifying Features
Length: 18.5-20.5in (47-52cm)
Weight: 25.2-49.4oz (715-1400g)
Wingspan: 52.0-54.3in (132-138cm)
Dark tipped wings, speckled chests and bellies of brown and white, and startlingly white underwings are key identifying features of the Rough-Legged Hawk. The top of their wings and backs are dark brown and they tend to possess a softer brown head.
Where to Find Them
- Non-breeding season: All Over Michigan
Rough-Legged Hawks are migratory birds that travel north through Canada and spend the breeding season in the arctic tundra regions of Northern Canada and the midnight sun. They spend their winters in Southern Canada and Northern United States – including Michigan. Your best chances of finding them are in fields, valleys, prairies, and other open and spacious regions.
8. Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)
Most hawks rely almost exclusively on sight for hunting – hence the term ‘hawk eye’. But the Northern Harrier also relies on owl-like hearing, using their distinctive, owl-like facial feathers to hear small rodents as they swoop low and slow over fields and prairie lands.
Identifying Features
Length: 18.1-19.7in (46-50cm)
Weight: 10.6-26.5oz (300-750g)
Wingspan: 40.2-46.5in (102-118cm)
Northern Harriers have very circular, almost disc-like faces that mirror that of an owls’. The males are a silvery gray color while the females have soft but dark brown plumage. But both have a white rump which is one of their most distinctive features. In flight, their wings take a distinctive V-shape.
Where to Find Them
- Year-Round: Southern Michigan
- Breeding Season: Northern Michigan
They hunt in open spaces like valleys, prairies, and fields which will also be the best place to find them.
9. Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Also known as Fish Hawks (because of their eating habits) Ospreys are intimidating in size, speed, and strength. Their breeding season is usually from January through May so you’ll have plenty of time to wait for spring weather to set up a lovely day out by Lake Michigan with your binoculars to be on the lookout for these beautiful beasts.
Identifying Features
Length: 21.3-22.8in (54-58cm)
Weight: 49.4-70.5oz (1400-2000g)
Wingspan: 59.1-70.9in (150-180cm)
The largest of the hawks on this list, Ospreys can equal a goose in size. They have long legs to help them fish, white bellies and underwings, and dark brown wing feathers and heads. Their unusually angled wings create an M-shape with their bodies as well.
Where to Find Them
- Breeding Season: All over Michigan
Take a trip out to the coast of Lake Michigan to find the Osprey. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see it hover over the water, seeking its prey, and then pull a fish from the water for dinner.
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Discover the different species found in Michigan here:
Fish In Lake Michigan | Snakes In Michigan | Turtles In Michigan | Frogs Of Michigan | Woodpeckers In Michigan | Michigan Water Snakes | Michigan Birds | Owls In Michigan
