Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis · Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
Banding codeRTHA
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 20 in long.
2Color pattern
- Brick-red tail on adults
- Pale chest with a dark belly band
- Dark bar on the leading edge of the underwing
3Habitat & season
Open country, highways, farms, foothills
In northern Utah: year-round.
Seen most often in October, November, December, January and February.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
A raspy, descending scream.
“kee-eeeee-arrr”
iNat 289189909 by Dan Horowitz · Hidden Valley, CA 91361, USA · CC0
Know it
- Its scream is the raptor sound used in movies — often dubbed over eagles.
- Often perches on light poles along highways, watching for rodents.
- The most common hawk in North America.
- Its plumage ranges from very pale to almost entirely dark.
Often confused with
Swainson's Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Golden Eagle- Rough-legged Hawk
- Ferruginous Hawk
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The red-tailed hawk is a bird of prey and one of the most common hawks in North America. In the United States, it is one of three species colloquially known as the "chickenhawk". The red-tailed hawk breeds throughout most of the continent, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas. It is absent in areas of unbroken forest and in the high arctic. It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico, and the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0