Raptor Identification

Buteo jamaicensis

Red-tailed Hawk

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern
Raptor Population Index Assessment: 58% of sites stable, 41% declining
Conservation Concerns: Collisions, Contaminants
Group: Buteo or near Buteo (Hawk)
Size: L 17-22″ / WS 43-56″

Overview

The Red-tailed Hawk is the most familiar raptor in North America, evident by every movie soundtrack that plays its screeching call whenever an outdoor scene is shown. They are widespread and common, found in a wide variety of open and semi-open habitats throughout North America. Red-tails are often seen along roadsides where their hulking figure is hard for even non-birders to miss. They are generalists, both in terms of the habitats they occupy and the animals they prey upon. Small rodents are typical prey items, but Red-tails also take birds, reptiles, and just about anything else of like size that makes itself visible. Red-tails hunt efficiently while hovering and kiting from mid to high elevation, as well as from a perch or even a high-speed stoop.

Red-tailed Hawk is smaller than an eagle but large for a buteo. The Eastern race breeds from the East Coast to the east side of the Rocky Mountains from Texas into parts of Alaska. Western Red-tailed Hawks nest from the Pacific Coast to the western Great Plains and north to southern Alaska. Harlan’s race is scattered as a breeder from western Alaska through the Yukon, Northwest Territories to southern Alberta. Red-tailed Hawks are generally silent away from the nesting territory, but when calling, make a raspy, loud, downslurred “krreeeeerrr.” Juveniles give a high-pitched, repeated begging “whee-whee-whee-whee…”

The Alaskan (B. j. alascensis), Fuertes (B. j. fuertesi), and Florida race (B. j. umbrinus) are other proposed races in North America. It is likely Alaskan is simply a form of the Western race. Fuertes overlaps greatly in plumage and range with the Eastern race and may be a form of Eastern rather than a distinct subspecies. The Florida race occurs within a limited range of southern Florida. It is heavily marked underneath and often with multiple tail bands similar to many Western birds. Little is known about the extent of its plumage variation or its exact range. The “Northern” or “Canadian” form (B.j. abieticola) breeds across the boreal forest of Canada. It is considered a form of the Eastern race, which shows heavily marked undersides, a dark throat, and multiple tail bands. Krider’s (B. j. kriderii) has been lumped with Eastern in most literature but is generally distinctive. Krider’s breeds in the northern Great Plains from central Alberta to South Dakota. Krider’s is strikingly pale overall with a mostly white head and tail, very faint patagial marks and bellybands, and white mottling on the upperwings. Northern and Krider’s are likely better representations of subspecies than Alaskan and Fuertes.

Shape

  • Perched, bulky and stocky, wing tips do not reach the tail tip
  • Stoutly built, with long, broad wings and a relatively short tail
    • The juvenile has slightly narrower wings and a longer tail
  • Races in the West are longer-winged than the Eastern, but subspecies are impossible to discern based on wing shape alone since individuals vary in shape too

Flight

  • Stable in flight, even in strong winds
  • Soar in wide circles on a slight dihedral, and glide on flattish to slightly bowed wings when they appear particularly stocky
  • Gliding, wing tips protrude slightly past the back of wings but well past in a steep glide
  • Wing beats are somewhat shallow and fluid but labored
    • Smaller birds have quicker wing beats than larger ones

Plumage

  • Two age classes, adult and juvenile
  • Plumage varies from nearly completely whitish to blackish below
    • The majority are light-morphs (except Harlan’s race), showing dark patagials and streaked belly (a.k.a. bellyband)
  • The Adult has a red tail with or without multiple black bands, dark eyes, a dark trailing edge to the wings, and brown upperside
  • The Juvenile has a brownish tail with narrow dark bands, a poorly defined trailing edge to the wings, pale outer primaries that look translucent, and pale yellow eyes that take a few years to become completely dark
  • The Eastern race occurs as a light morph, with lightly marked underwings and bellyband, often whitish throats, and a red tail with little or no bands (adults)
  • The Western race occurs in light (common) and dark-morph (about 15% of the population) with variation in between.
    • Light-morph has a rufous-toned underside, heavily marked underwings and belly, broad patagials, darkish throat, and often multiple black tail bands (adult)
    • Dark-morph adult is brown on the underside or with rufous-brown chest while the juvenile is heavily streaked underneath or solid brown
  • Harlan’s is the most variable of the subspecies, from ghostly white to completely black below
    • Light-morphs make up 9-12 % of population
    • Most dark-morph adults have white mottling on the chest, some completely dark below
    • The Adult is best identified by its unique tail having whitish, grayish, brownish, or blackish mottling, some show an near completely reddish tail. A few dark adults have black & white banded tails, but these may represent intergrades with Western or Eastern. Many adults lack banding in the secondaries and primaries. Dark-morph Juvenile ranges from completely streaked below to solidly dark. Juvenile typically has outer primaries banded at the tips, and tail tip shows “spiked” look. Upperwing coverts and primaries are dotted black and white. Light-morph Harlan’s are snow white below, superficially like Eastern otherwise. Juvenile light-morph has whitish wing panels, and extensive white mottling along upperwing coverts. Tail of juvenile Harlan’s similar to other races, but some light-morphs have adult-looking tails.

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