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Red-tailed Hawk

Buteo jamaicensisOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)

Red-tailed Hawk Portrait_2
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General

Red-tailed Hawk: Large, highly variable hawk with brown upperparts, head and throat. Underparts are pale with brown streaks. Wings are pale below with dark bar at leading edge and dark tips. Tail is red-brown with dark terminal band. Western birds are usually darker than eastern. Additional forms include the paler Krider’s Red-tailed Hawk and nearly black Harlan’s Red-Tailed Hawk. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has finely banded tail.

Range and Habitat

Red-tailed Hawk: Found in Alaska and Canada south to Panama. Found in open country, woodlands, prairie groves, mountains, plains, farmlands, and roadsides.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"keeer-r-r"

Interesting Facts

  • The raspy cry of the Red-tailed Hawk is typically used in movies to represent any eagle or hawk anywhere in the world.
  • They can spot a mouse from a height of 100 feet.
  • Males and females perform a courtship ritual in which they dive and roll in the sky. They will even lock talons and fall together a distance before splitting apart.
  • A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Red-tailed Hawk
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Buteo jamaicensis
Length19 - 25 Inches
Wingspan52 Inches

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk: Large, highly variable hawk with brown upperparts, head and throat. The underparts are pale with brown streaks. Wings are pale below with dark bar at leading edge and dark tips. The tail is red-brown with dark terminal band. Legs and feet are yellow. Soars on thermals and updrafts.

● Song: "keeer-r-r"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-tailed Hawk: Eats mostly small mammals, but also takes birds and reptiles; male Red-winged Blackbirds are often eaten because of their vulnerability when guarding nests.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-tailed Hawk: Two to three white to pale blue eggs, sometimes spotted with brown, are laid in a nest constructed from twigs, lined with pine needles and bark, and built in a large tree. Eggs are incubated for about 30 days by both parents; male may bring female food while she is on the nest.

● Similar species: Red-tailed Hawk: Rough-legged Hawk has unmarked flight feathers, a white comma on the outermost underwing coverts, and lacks brown tail. Dark morph Swainson's Hawk has dark flight feathers and white undertail coverts.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals., Several rapid strong wing beats followed by glide., Sometimes hangs on updrafts.
Red-tailed Hawk Body Illustration_2
● Range & Habitat: Red-tailed Hawk: Found in Alaska and Canada south to Panama. Found in open country, woodlands, prairie groves, mountains, plains, farmlands, and roadsides.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
PopulationVery common
MigrationMigratory
Weight36.8 Ounces