Range

The red-tailed hawk is found in North America and Central America. Its range extends from central Alaska and the Northwest Territories east to Southern Quebec and south to Florida and the West Indies and to Central America.

Habitat

The preferred habitat is mixed forest and fields, with high trees that it can use as perches to hunt for prey. They also inhabit several other types of habitats such as grasslands, deserts, mountains, tropical rainforests and mountains.

Reproduction

Red-tailed hawks usually mate for life and usually use the same nest year after year.

They make a nest either high up in a tree, on a cliff ledge or high on a man made structure. The nests are quite large and can measure up to 1 metre (3 ft) in diameter, and are constructed from twigs, branches, bark, pine needles and other plant matter.

The female will lay between 1 and 3 eggs in March or April, the clutch size depending on the availability of prey for the adults. The eggs are mainly incubated by the female except for when the male takes over when the female goes off to hunt or stretch her wings.

After an incubation period of approximately 30 days the eggs will hatch over 2 to 4 days. When the nestlings hatch they are “altricial which means they need to be cared for and fed by the parents.

The female will stay with the young which are called eyasses while the male goes out and gets food for the female and the young, the female will tear the food into small pieces and feed it to the young.

After approximately 45 days the eyasses will begin to leave the nest for short flights, during this time they will chase their parents while they hunt. The parents will drop small bits of food for the young to catch, finally dropping live prey which the young will chase and catch. They do this less and less as the young become more skilled at catching the prey and are able to hunt on their own.

Sexual maturity is achieved at around 3 years old.

Behavior

Red-tailed hawks usually keep the same territory, which can be up to 25 square kilometres (9.6 square miles), their whole lives. They defend the area using territorial displays of flying which involves steep climbs and dives. Both the males and the females help defend the territory.

When the young are born they do not have a red tail, and it is not until they have undergone several molts that their colour will change and they will develop the red tail depending on the region that they live in.

They have a cry which starts out high pitched and is often described as sounding similar to that of a steam whistle.

When they mate they often stay with the same partner for life, generally only getting a new mate if one of the pair dies.

The feathers as well as other parts of the red-tailed hawk are considered to be sacred to many American indigenous people. They are often used in their religious ceremonies and are found adorning the regalia of many Native Americans in the United States.

Quick facts

Hawk eggshells are tinted green on the inside.

Hawks are part of a group of birds called raptors. Some other raptors are falcons, owls, vultures and eagles.

They play an important role in the ecosystem by helping to control numbers of rabbits etc, They also help farmers by keeping down the numbers of mice and other rodents that eat their crops.