The Red-Tailed Hawk is a bird of prey known as a raptor. They can be found throughout most of North America. These birds are found as far north as northern Canada and interior Alaska and as far south as Panama and the West Indies. The red-tailed hawks that live in northwest Canada are much darker in color with a marbled white, brown and gray tail instead of a red one.

Females are about 25% heavier than males.

Hawks and falcons are known for their keen eyesight.

Red-tailed hawks are mature enough to find a mate at the age of two and they mate for life.

The raspy cry of a red-tailed hawk is used in movies to represent any eagle or hawk.

Red-tailed hawks usually build their nests in the crowns of tall trees where they have an optimal view of the surrounding landscape. They will also be seen nesting on cliff ledges, window ledges and billboard platforms.

They are one of the most widely distributed hawks in the world. They can adapt to living in various conditions and altitudes such as deserts, grasslands, forests, agricultural fields and even urban areas.

A red-tailed hawk’s diet consists of small mammals including rodents and rabbits, birds, reptiles, fish and insects. Red-tailed hawks will steal prey from other raptors.

The red-tailed hawk is one of the largest birds you will find in the sky in North America, yet even the biggest female weighs only approximately three pounds.

You can sometimes catch red-tailed hawks hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.

Red-tailed hawks do not have many predators, but they do compete with the great horned owl. The great horned owl is larger, so they will attack red-tailed hawks to take both their food and their nests.The oldest known red-tailed hawk was at least 30 years and 8 months old when it was found in Michigan in 2011.