dge at the age of about a month and rely on their parents for feeding and protection another four weeks. The nesting sites and breeding behavior of sharp-shinned hawks are generally secretive, in order to avoid the predation of larger raptors, such as the northern goshawk and the Cooper's hawk. While in migration, adults are sometimes preyed on by most of the bird-hunting, larger raptors, especially the peregrine falcon. The breeding behavior of the taxa chionogaster (white-breasted hawk), ventralis (plain-breasted hawk) and erythronemius (rufous-thighed hawk) are comparably poorly known, but based on the available knowledge they appear to differ little from that of the nominate group Conservation Endangered subspecies venator, endemic to Puerto Rico In North America this species declined in numbers in the 1960s and 1970s, probably as a result of the use of DDT and other pesticides. The population of USA and Canada has rebounded since and might eve
n exceed historical numbers today, probably due to the combination of the ban on DDT and the proliferation of backyard bird feeders in North America which create unnaturally reliable and easy prey sources. Migratory sharp-shinned hawks are one of the most numerous raptors recorded at "hawk watches" across the country. An exception is the subspecies from Puerto Rico, Accipiter striatus venator, which is rare and listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The remaining resident subspecies from the Greater Antilles, fringilliodes from Cuba and nominate (A. s. striatus) from Hispaniola, are uncommon, local, and, at least in the case of the latter, decreasing. Both ventralis (plain-breasted hawk) and erythronemius (rufous-thighed hawk) are fairly common (but easily overlooked due to their secretive behavior) and presently considered safe. The situation for chionogaster (white-breasted hawk) is pote
