Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis

The Red-tailed Hawk is a medium-sized bird of prey known as a raptor. They are probably the most common hawk in North America. If you go on a long car ride, you might see them soaring above big, open fields, or on top of telephone poles, eyes fixed to the ground looking for a rabbit or other small mammal. If you see one in the air from a distance, you might think you are seeing an eagle (until an actual eagle comes along).

Fun Facts*

• Most are rich brown above and pale below with a streaked belly. The tail is usually pale below and cinnamon-red above, though in young birds it’s brown and banded.
• They have broad, rounded wings and short, wide tails, and you often see them soaring without flapping.
• You probably won’t see this bird in your backyard, but go for a drive and look on the tops of telephone poles and fenceposts.
• See if you can research some information about a Red-tailed Hawk called Pale Male, a famous resident of New York City.
• The call of the Red-tailed Hawk is a raspy, scraping, screamed “kree-eee-ar.” The raspy cry of the Red-tailed Hawk is often used in movies to represent an eagle or a hawk anywhere in the world.

* Information taken from Cornell Lab of Ornithology site All About Birds and the Washington NatureMapping Program.

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