Common Crabgrass vs Sharp-shinned Hawk

Digitaria ciliaris compared with Accipiter striatus

Key Differences

Common Crabgrass is Not Evaluated while Sharp-shinned Hawk is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Crabgrass	Sharp-shinned Hawk
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Poales (Grasses)	Accipitriformes (Hawks & Eagles)
Family	Poaceae (Grass Family)	Accipitridae (Hawks & Eagles)
Genus	Digitaria	Accipiter
Species	Digitaria ciliaris	Accipiter striatus

Conservation Status

Common Crabgrass

NE — Not Evaluated

Sharp-shinned Hawk

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Crabgrass	Sharp-shinned Hawk
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Crabgrass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (8 countries), Asia (8 countries), Europe (18 countries), North America (10 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (12 countries), and South America (5 countries).

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, United States, and Venezuela.

Common Crabgrass

<em>Digitaria ciliaris</em>, commonly known as common crabgrass or southern crabgrass, is an annual grass in the family Poaceae. It has a near-cosmopolitan distribution, occurring across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions on multiple continents. This species typically colonizes disturbed habitats including lawns, gardens, roadsides, cultivated fields, and waste ground, making it one of the most widespread grass weeds in the world. Common crabgrass spreads rapidly via its sprawling, branching stems that root at the nodes when they contact moist soil. It produces slender, finger-like racemes bearing small, paired spikelets. The species thrives in warm weather and full sun, declining with the onset of cooler autumn temperatures. While it is considered a troublesome weed in many agricultural and horticultural contexts, it also provides ground cover and food for various seed-eating birds. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Widespread and abundant across its range, with stable populations and no immediate conservation concerns.