Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis
Behaviour 4
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
Associations 5
Red-tailed hawks play an important role in local ecosystems by helping to control the populations of small mammals, including rodents and rabbits. They also provide habitat for some small bird species, including house sparrows, that live in active red-tailed hawk nests.
Red-tailed hawks have antagonistic relationships with many bird species. Some smaller bird species mob hawks. Red-tailed hawks also steal prey and have prey stolen by other large birds, including golden eagles, bald eagles and ferruginous hawks.
Ecosystem Impact: creates habitat
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
- house sparrow
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
Sources and Credits
- (c) Andrew Reding, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/8084648955/
- (c) Rhys A., some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Buteo_jamaicensis_-near_Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania%2C_USA_-eating_rabbit-8_%281%29.jpg
- (c) Brocken Inaglory, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Juvenile_red-tailed_hawk_Buteo_jamaicensis.jpg
- (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/31381699
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/25063715
