This hawk is most adaptable; it is an opportunistic feeder and able to live in a variety of habitats. Like others of its family, the Red-tailed Hawk is a master at soaring, taking advantage of thermals and updrafts. It is usually searching for intruders or keeping an eye out for prey as it flies. In the winter, it may rely more on hunting from a perch. Breeding pairs may remain together for years in the same territory. They will vigorously defend their area, particularly in winter, when food may be scarce and hunting is difficult.

Length: 45.7 - 48.2 cm.

Physical characteristics:
The sexes are similar, although the female is up to a third larger. When viewed in flight this hawk has a distinct, wedged-shaped red tail and broad wings. The head, back and wings are a mottled brown. The underside is whitish with a rusty band across the breast and a speckled dark band across the belly. There can be a quite a variety of colorations in this species.

Voice:
Voice is a faint, raspy, descending scream or sometimes a series of screams.

Breeding habitat:
Red-tailed Hawks occur in a variety of open areas with interspersed woodland, including deserts, agricultural fields, parks and coniferous and deciduous woodlands.

Mating system:
Monogamous, a pair will usually mate for life. One brood is produced per year.

Nest:
Both sexes build a flat, bulky nest of sticks and twigs, lined with bark strips and evergreen sprigs, in a crotch of a tree. The nest is commonly located from 15 - 70 feet (4.5 - 21 meters) from the ground. It may be used year after year.

Eggs:
The eggs are white to bluish-white, with varied spots of brown. From 1 - 5 eggs may be laid, with 2-3 eggs being most common. 60mm (2.4'').
Chick development:
Incubation is by both sexes, but mostly by the female, for 30 - 35 days. Chicks are hatched semialtricial. They fledge in 45-46 days, but may remain in parental territory anywhere from two weeks to over two months after fledging.

Diet:
The diet consists of mostly rodents. This hawk will also take other small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. It normally swoops down on prey sighted from an elevated perch.

The Red-tailed Hawk greatly increased its numbers and expanded its range during the 20th century in response to the increase of open areas with scattered woodland. It also made a tremendous comeback after being hunted in great numbers in the past. It is now the most common and widespread buteo (large hawk) in North America.
Current threats to the species include collisions with automobiles, human disturbance of nesting activities and loss of preferred habitat.

Distribution:
Breeding: The Red-tailed Hawk is found throughout Canada, the United States, and into Mexico and Central America.
Winter: Only the northern populations (in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States) migrate south in winter. Other populations are non-migratory.

In Park: The Red-tailed Hawk is an uncommon year-round resident bird species in the Park. It is most likely to be observed associated with open areas in the park soaring overhead. In a survey of breeding birds in the park, performed from 1996-1999, five Red-tailed Hawks were observed during the breeding season (note however, the survey was not designed to sample soaring species and is not likely a good representation of Red-tailed Hawk populations in the park).

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Red-tailed Hawk, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Preston, C. R. and R. D. Beane. 1993. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 52 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists? Union.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.