A red-tailed hawk is named for the reddish color of its tail. Young red-tailed hawks do not get red tail feathers until the start of their second year, and before that they have brown barred tails. Red-tailed hawks come in many colors, from nearly white to black, and many have a lighter belly with a dark band across it. The red-tailed hawk gets its species name, jamaicensis, because the first ones scientists named were found in Jamaica.
A red-tailed hawk has a wingspan of about 4 feet, which is the distance across its spread wings. In the red-tailed hawk, the length for females is 19 to 26 inches (48 to 66 centimeters) and for males 17 to 22 inches (43 to 56 centimeters), and female red-tailed hawks are often about 25 percent larger than males. Reports of weight differ: one report says females weigh about 2 to 3 pounds (900 to 1,400 grams), and males about 1.5 to 2.9 pounds (690 to 1,300 grams), while another reports adult mass from 795 to 1224 grams, varying by sex, season, and place.
A red-tailed hawk has excellent eyesight, and its vision lets it detect the movements of prey at great distances. It can spot a mouse from 100 feet up in the air. Estimates say a red-tailed hawk sees two to three times as sharply as a person, and some say as much as eight times. A red-tailed hawk does most of its hunting from a perch, and it scans the ground for food by soaring in wide circles or by perching on a tree or telephone pole. Red-tailed hawks are built for soaring.
Red-tailed hawks are active during the day, and they are often seen perched on poles and signs beside roads. A red-tailed hawk dives down and grabs its food in its talons. Red-tailed hawks eat mostly small mammals, such as mice, and they also eat reptiles and other birds. Red-tailed hawks help keep the number of rodents and other small mammals in check.
Red-tailed hawks make big nests of sticks high up in trees, and the nests are usually 28 to 38 inches across. A pair of red-tailed hawks uses the same nest year after year, and red-tailed hawks may mate for life. A female lays one to five eggs, which are kept warm for 28 to 35 days before they hatch. A newly hatched chick weighs only about 2 ounces. Both parents care for their chicks: while the female tends the young, the male hunts and brings food to the family, and the female feeds the nestlings small pieces of food. Young red-tailed hawks leave the nest after 42 to 46 days.
Red-tailed hawks live across North America and into Central America. They live in many kinds of places, including deserts, plains, woodlands and rain forests, and they like open land with high places to perch. The range of the red-tailed hawk has grown over the last 100 years, and red-tailed hawks have learned to nest in cities. Red-tailed hawks from the far north fly south for the winter, while many others stay in one place all year.
Words to know
- wingspan: wing width
- perch: a high seat
- talons: sharp claws
- barred: marked with stripes
- nestlings: young nest birds
