Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis
Summary 4
The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. Red-tailed Hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range....
Behaviour 5
Adult red-tailed hawks make what is called a horse scream, "kee-eeee-arrr." It is often described as sounding like a steam whistle. The length and pitch of this call varies with the age, gender, and geographic region of the individual red-tailed hawk.
Young red-tailed hawks communicate with their parents by making soft, low "peep"-ing sounds. As they get older, they sounds they make deepen in tone, and are usually sounds of hunger.
Red-tailed hawks also communicate through body language. In an aggressive posture, the body and head of the red-tailed hawk are held upright and its feathers are standing up. In submission, the hawk's head is lower to the ground and the feathers are smooth. Red-tailed hawks also display many aerial behaviors. In the talon-drop, during courtship, they swoop down trying to touch one another with their talons. Undulating-flight is an up and down movement that is mainly used in territorial display. Finally, in the dive-display the bird performs a steep dive. This is also a territorial display.
Red-tailed hawks have extraordinarily keen vision, which allows them to detect prey movements at great distances.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Habitat 6
Red-tailed hawks live in a variety of habitats. In their habitat, they need open areas for hunting and several scattered perches. Some of the habitats that red-tailed hawks live in are scrub desert, grasslands, farm fields, pastures, parks, woodlands, and tropical rainforests. Red-tailed hawks prefer to build their nests at the edge of forests, in wooded fence rows, or in large trees surrounded by open areas.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; savanna or grassland ; forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: urban ; suburban ; agricultural ; riparian
Physical description 7
Red-tailed hawks average 48 to 65 centimeters in length. Their wingspan is approximately 4 feet, or 122 centimeters. There is sexual dimorphism in size: females are 25% larger than males. This kind of sexual dimorphism, where females are larger than males, is common in birds of prey.
Red-tailed hawk plumage ranges from light auburn to deep brown. The underbelly is lighter than the rest of the body, with a dark belly band across it. The cere (the soft skin at the base of the beak), the legs, and the feet are all yellow. The tail is uniformly red, and it is this trait that gives red-tailed hawks their name.
Immature red-tailed hawks look similar to adults. One difference is that immatures have yellowish-gray eyes that become dark brown as adults.
Range mass: 795 to 1224 g.
Range length: 45 to 65 cm.
Average wingspan: 122 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry ; polymorphic
Sexual Dimorphism: female larger
Sources and Credits
- (c) sarbhloh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/29452402@N07/2939911664
- (c) David Marvin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/74418101@N02/16404301656/
- (c) ~Sage~, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/vickispix/3148690987/
- Adapted by kmarie333 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buteo_jamaicensis
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31381696
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/25063715
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/25063716
