Chickenhawk (bird)

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For other meanings, see Chickenhawk.

Left to right: Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk and the Red-tailed Hawk. (May not be to scale)

In the US, a Chickenhawk or Chicken Hawk is an unofficial designation for three species of North American hawks: the Cooper's Hawk, the Sharp-shinned Hawk and the Red-tailed Hawk. The term Chicken Hawk, however, is inappropriate. Although Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks may attack other birds, chickens do not make up a significant part of their diet; Red-tailed Hawks have varied diets, though they too would be unlikely to attack poultry.

Historically, misinterpretation of the name "Chicken Hawk" has labelled these birds as pests, hence justifying their slaughter. Officially, per the American Ornithologists' Union's list of bird names, the term has become obsolete as applied to birds, but still enjoys widespread colloquial use in rural areas where any of the three species has been seen as a threat to small outdoor animals kept as pets or livestock, especially chickens.

While the term is still widely used by those who keep such animals, it is too ambiguous to be of any scholarly usefulness, especially since the meaning of hawk differs between America and Europe; thus, the term's propriety (or lack thereof) depends entirely upon context.

Farmers tilling under their crops will have swarms of hawks hopping around on the ground behind the tractors grabbing the mice that have been displaced by the discs. These hawks on the ground look like chickens running around, hence the name. This is similar to calling a kestrel a sparrow hawk and a merlin a pigeon hawk.

[edit] In popular culture

Henery Hawk was a cartoon character created by Chuck Jones in the Looney Tunes series. The premise of this character was that he was too young to know what a chicken was and hence, although having a great deal of energy, was easily tricked into thinking that other animals were chickens. The character Foghorn Leghorn was introduced to complement the Henery Hawk character, but quickly eclipsed him in popularity.