The Jamaican red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis jamaicensis) is the nominate subspecies of the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), 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, where it is replaced by the Cuban red-tailed hawk (B. j. solitudinis). El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico, holds some of the highest known density of Jamaican red-tailed hawks.The Lords of the Air. Kingsnake.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. The bird is referred to as a guaraguao (a Taino term) in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.Guaraguao Colirrojo on AvesPR.orgGuaraguao colirrojo on EdicionesDigitales Description This is the smallest-bodied subspecies of the 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.Palmer, R. S., ed. (1988). Handbook of North American Birds. Volume 5 Diurnal Raptors (Part 2).Ridgway, R. & Friedmann, H. (1919). The Birds of North and Middle America: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Higher Groups, Genera, Species, and Subspecies of Birds Known to Occur in North America, from the Arctic Lands to the Isthmus of Panama, the West Indies and Other Islands of the Caribbean Sea, and the Galapagos Archipelago. Vol. 50, No. 8. Govt. Print. 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, black belly band.Preston, C. R. & Beane, R. D. (2009). "Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)". The Birds of North America. .
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