Red-tailed Hawk

The Red-tailed Hawk is the most common and widespread large hawk in North America, a broad-winged buteo frequently seen soaring over open country or perched conspicuously on roadside poles and trees. Adults are named for their warm brick-red tail, visible from above or as a translucent rusty glow when backlit.

Plumage is highly variable across its wide range, with light, dark (melanistic), and rufous color morphs, but most birds show pale, mottled underparts with a band of dark streaking across the belly (the "belly band"), and dark leading edges on the underwing (patagial marks) visible in flight.

Key field marks

• Broad, rounded wings and a wide, fan-shaped tail
• Adult: brick-red tail, unbarred above
• Pale underparts with a streaked dark "belly band"
• Dark patagial (leading-edge) marks on the underwing in flight
• Frequently perches on utility poles and highway trees

Similar species

Red-shouldered Hawk has a banded black-and-white tail and translucent crescent wing panels, without the solid red tail. Rough-legged Hawk and Ferruginous Hawk are larger-winged with different tail and belly patterns and prefer more open, treeless country. Juvenile Red-tailed Hawks lack the red tail (finely barred brown instead) and are best told from other juvenile buteos by the belly band and patagial marks.

Habitat

Extremely adaptable, occupying open fields, deserts, prairies, woodland edges, and increasingly cities and suburbs, wherever open hunting ground is paired with elevated perches or nest sites.

Range

Found essentially throughout North America, from Alaska and Canada south through the United States, Mexico, and into Central America and the Caribbean. Northern populations migrate south in winter, while many populations in temperate latitudes are year-round residents.

Behavior

Red-tailed Hawks commonly hunt by perching and watching for prey below, dropping down to seize it, and also soar on thermals in broad circles while scanning open ground. They are territorial, especially near the nest.

Voice

Its call, a harsh, descending scream ("kee-eeeee-arr"), is one of the most iconic sounds in American media, frequently dubbed over footage of other raptors, including Bald Eagles, in film and television.

Feeding and nesting

Diet is dominated by small mammals such as voles, rabbits, and squirrels, supplemented with birds, snakes, and other reptiles. Nests are large stick platforms built high in trees or on cliff ledges (and sometimes on man-made structures), reused and added to across years by the same pair, which typically mates for life.