RED-TAILED HAWK
Larger than the Coopers hawk, The Red-tailed Hawk is very common, but most often seen soaring overhead. They aren’t likely visitors to your backyard, unless you have a particularly tall tree for them to perch in as they look for squirrels, rodents, rabbits and reptiles.
Like with many birds, there are regional color variations, but our Red-tailed Hawks are brown above and pale below, with a brown streaked “belly band” that continues across the underside of the wing plus a dark bar between the shoulder and wrist. The Red-tailed Hawk doesn’t really have a red tail, it’s more of a cinnamon orange on top and pale on the underside. You can easily see the orange from behind or when they are soaring and the sun shines through the feathers. Immature birds start out with a tail that is brown with dark bands.
The eyes of Red-tailed Hawks also change over time. Immature red-tailed hawks have yellow eyes, but as they mature their eyes turn brown.
Red-tailed Hawks tend to flap very little when they fly, choosing to soar in wide circles with outstretched wings. When they do flap, they have powerful and heavy wing beats.
The call of the Red-tailed Hawk is that sharp, solitary note that is commonly heard in movies for practically every bird of prey.