Species

Red-tailed hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

The big, pale-breasted hawk on highway poles and fence posts, with a brick-red tail and a scream used in countless films.

Photo Frank Schulenburg (opens in a new tab) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab)

At a glance

Size: About 45 to 65 cm long; wingspan about 1.1 to 1.4 m
Weight: About 0.7 to 1.5 kg
Habitat: Open country, fields, roadsides, farms and towns
Diet: Mice, voles, rats, rabbits, squirrels and snakes
In Georgia: Common resident; more in winter
Voice: A hoarse, descending scream "kee-eeeer"
Rabies vector: No

Identification

Key marks: Large, broad-winged hawk; pale breast with a dark belly band; brick-red tail in adults; dark bar on the leading edge of the underwing
Told apart from: Red-shouldered hawk, which has rusty underparts and a banded tail
Told apart from: Turkey vulture, which has a small red head and two-toned wings
Where to look: Perched on poles and trees along highways and fields

Behaviour

Red-tailed hawks hunt from perches, watching fields and roadsides for rodents, then gliding down to catch them. Pairs often stay together for years.

Why they matter

Red-tailed hawks are among the most important rodent predators in farmland and suburbs. Their screaming call is so dramatic that films often use it for eagles, which have much weaker voices.

Reproduction and lifecycle

Nest — A large platform of sticks high in a tree or on a tower
Eggs — Usually two or three
Incubation — About 28 to 35 days
Chicks — Fed by both parents
Flight — At about six to seven weeks
Lifespan — Wild birds over twenty-five years are recorded

Living around people

Rodent poisons kill hawks that eat poisoned rodents; traps and removing food sources are safer.
Hawks along highways are hunting in the mowed verges and are often hit by cars.
A young hawk on the ground in early summer may be a fledgling still fed by its parents.

Misconceptions

Hawks take pets and chickens routinely. Red-tailed hawks eat mostly rodents and rarely take anything large.
The eagle scream in films is an eagle. It is almost always a red-tailed hawk.

Related species

Seasonal activity

When this species is breeding, and when there are nests on the ground. Mowing during the shaded months is how most nests are found.

Breeding and active nests by month for this species
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Breeding	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Active nests	Jan: no	Feb: no	Mar: no	Apr: no	May: no	Jun: no	Jul: no	Aug: no	Sep: no	Oct: no	Nov: no	Dec: no
Notes	Pairs on territory; northern birds wintering	Courtship flights	Nest building	Incubating	Chicks	Young fledging	Young begging nearby	Young independent	Present	Migrants arriving	Wintering birds	Wintering birds

Where it lives

Recorded in 90 states and provinces. Each one links to the other animals there, and to the rehabilitators licensed for them.

Canada

If you found one

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