Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk, adult, light morph

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Red-tailed Hawk, light form, juvenile

Red-tailed hawk, intermediate form, adult

Red-tailed Hawk, rufous/dark morph, juvenile

Red-tailed Hawk, dark morph, juvenile

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

The most common and widespread hawk in North America, the Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of open country. It is frequently seen sitting on utility poles where it watches for rodents in the grass along the roadside.

Description

• Large hawk.
• Wings long and broad.
• Tail broad and red.
• Most commonly with pale chest and dark band across belly.

• Size: 45-65 cm (18-26 in)
• Wingspan: 114-133 cm (45-52 in)
• Weight: 690-1460 g (24.36-51.54 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike; female larger.

Sound

Call a raspy, scraping, screamed "kree-eee-ar."

Conservation Status

Populations increasing in much of North America, apparently in response to the widespread establishment of open, wooded parkland in place of grassland or dense forest.

Other Names

Buse à queue rousse (French)
Aguililla parda (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The "Harlan's Hawk" was once considered a separate species. It breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. Many individuals intermediate between Harlan's and more typical Red-tailed Hawks can be found.

• The raspy cry of the Red-tailed Hawk is used in movies to represent any eagle or hawk anywhere in the world.

• In the courtship display a pair of Red-tailed Hawks soars in wide circles at a great height. The male dives down in a steep drop, then shoots up again at nearly as steep an angle. He repeats this maneuver several times, then approaches the female from above. He extends his legs and touches or grasps her briefly. The pair may grab onto one other and may interlock their talons and spiral toward the ground.

Sources used to construct this page:

Preston, C. R., and R. D. Beane. 1993. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 52 (A. Poole, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.