Red-tailed hawk

Red-tailed hawks eat mostly small furry animals.

They catch mice, voles, rabbits and squirrels. Sometimes they catch birds or snakes too.

Most of a red-tail's meals are mammals: voles, mice, wood rats, rabbits, hares, jackrabbits and ground squirrels. It also catches birds such as starlings and blackbirds, and it eats snakes and dead animals it finds.

It hunts by watching from a perch or soaring high above a field. In strong wind it can face into the breeze and hang almost still in the air. When it sees prey, it drops in a slow, controlled dive with its legs stretched out.

The diet is dominated by small mammals, including voles, mice, wood rats, rabbits, snowshoe hares, jackrabbits and ground squirrels, supplemented by birds (pheasants, bobwhite, starlings, blackbirds), snakes and carrion. Single prey items range from under an ounce (about 28 grams) to more than 5 pounds (about 2.3 kilograms).

Red-tails hunt mainly from perches or while soaring, and in high winds they may hover into the wind without flapping, a behavior called kiting. The attack is a slow, controlled descent with legs outstretched, quite unlike a falcon's high-speed stoop. Pairs have been seen hunting together, guarding opposite sides of a tree to catch tree squirrels.

The red-tailed hawk has a loud, scratchy scream.

Two hawks fly in big circles high in the sky. Sometimes they hold feet and tumble down together!

The red-tail's call is a raspy, thrilling scream. Film makers love it: when a hawk or eagle appears in a movie, the cry you hear is very often a red-tailed hawk's.

In courtship, a pair soars in wide circles high in the sky. The male dives steeply and swoops up again, then reaches down to touch the female with his feet. Sometimes the two lock talons and spiral toward the ground before letting go. Red-tails also chase other hawks, eagles and great horned owls away from their nests.

Cornell notes that the species' raspy scream sounds so exactly like a raptor should that, whenever a hawk or eagle of any species appears on screen, the cry on the soundtrack is almost always a red-tail's.

Courtship flights begin with high, wide circling. The male makes steep dives and equally steep climbs, approaches the female from above with legs extended and briefly touches her; pairs sometimes clasp talons and tumble in spirals before separating. Red-tails are aggressive in defense of nests and territories, frequently driving off other hawks, eagles and great horned owls, and smaller birds often mob them in the nesting season. Cornell notes that attacks on dogs or cats are very rare.

There are lots of red-tailed hawks.

Their numbers are growing. They hunt over fields and roadsides, and they nest in tall trees.

The red-tailed hawk is not endangered: it is listed as Least Concern. The IUCN's 2024 assessment estimates about 2.6 to 3.1 million adult birds, and their number is going up.

In North America, a long-running bird survey found that red-tail numbers grew by about 1.3 percent a year between 1966 and 2019. Red-tails hunt along roadsides and fields, and they sometimes nest on buildings.

The IUCN's 2024 global assessment lists the species as Least Concern, with 2,600,000 to 3,100,000 mature individuals and an increasing trend. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 3.1 million, and the North American Breeding Bird Survey found an increase of about 1.3 percent a year between 1966 and 2019. The species scores 6 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, a rating of low conservation concern.

Red-tails use many places that people have shaped: they hunt along roadsides and over farmland and parks, and they nest on window ledges and billboard platforms as well as in tall trees and on cliffs.