title: Mangalore

text: The city's major chemical industries include BASF, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCF), Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Total Oil India Limited, and Hindustan Unilever. The Indian government has built 5.33 million tons of strategic crude oil storage at Mangalore and Padur to ensure energy security. Out of the 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) storage, 1.5 MMT is stored at Mangalore. Bharati Shipyard Ltd (BSL) (now known as Bharati Defence and Infrastructure Limited) has established a shipbuilding site near Tannirbavi in Mangalore.


title: Mangalore

text: Major information technology (IT) and outsourcing companies like Infosys, Cognizant, and have their offices at Mangalore. Mphasis' Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has a branch in this city. IT parks Export Promotion Investment Park (EPIP) at Ganjimutt and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) near Mangalore University have been constructed. An IT park called Soorya Infratech park is situated in Mudipu. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has planned to invest and set up its office at Karnad near Mangalore. KEONICS has planned to build an IT park at Derebail in Mangalore, similar to Electronic City, spanning an area of 100 acres.


title: Mangalore

text: Centre for Entrepreneurship Opportunities and Learning (CEOL) is a startup incubation centre situated in the city. Corporation Bank, Canara Bank, and Vijaya Bank were the three nationalised banks established in Mangalore during the first half of the 20th century. Mangalore is the headquarters of Corporation Bank and Karnataka Bank. The Mangalore Catholic Co-operative Bank (MCC Bank) Ltd., Mangalore Cooperative Town Bank Ltd., and SCDCC Bank were the scheduled banks established in Mangalore.


title: Mangalore

text: Syngene International which is a contract research arm of Biocon, has set up its manufacturing plant at Mangalore. Old Mangalore Port is a fishing port located at Bunder, Mangalore, where a large number of mechanised boats anchor. The traffic at this port was 122,000 tonnes during the years 2003–04. New Mangalore Port handled over 100,000 Twenty-foot equivalent units of containers during the years 2017–18. Fishing is a traditional occupation and the products are sold in the surrounding regions. Mangalorean firms have a major presence in the tile, beedi, coffee and cashew nut industries although the tile industry has declined because concrete is preferred in modern construction. The Albuquerque tile factory in Mangalore is one of India's oldest red-roof-tile manufacturing factories. The city's suburb Ullal produces hosiery and coir yarns while beedi rolling is an important source of revenue to many of the city's residents.


title: Mangalore

text: According to the 2011 Indian census, the population of Mangalore city was 484,785, and the metropolitan area had a population of 619,664. The male literacy rate was 96.49 percent and the female literacy rate was 91.63 percent. About 8.5 percent of the population was under the age of six years. The death rate and Infant mortality rate were at 3.7 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. About 7726 people lived in slums in Mangalore city which was 1.55 percent of the total population. The Human Development Index (HDI) of Mangalore city was 0.83 .


title: Mangalore

text: Hinduism is the largest religion in Mangalore, and Devadiga, Mogaveera, Billavas, Ganigas, Bunts, Vishwakarma, Padmashali, Brahmins, and Daivadnyas are the major communities among Hindus. Christians form a sizeable section of Mangalorean society; Mangalorean Catholics comprise the city's largest Christian community. Protestants in Mangalore typically speak Tulu and Kannada. Anglo-Indians were also part of the Mangalorean Christian Community. Mangalore has one of the highest percentage of Muslims in Karnataka cities. Most Muslims in Mangalore are Bearys who speak the Beary language. Most of them follow the Shafi'i school of "Fiqh" (Islamic Jurisprudence). Mangalore also has a small group of Urdu-speaking Dakhini Muslims. The Masjid Zeenath Baksh at Mangalore is one of the oldest mosques in the Indian subcontinent.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore is a multi-lingual city where several prominent regional languages such as Tulu, Konkani, Kannada, and Beary are spoken. The city is known as "Kudla" in Tulu, "Kodial" in Konkani, "Maikāla" in Beary, "Mangalapuram" in Malayalam, and "Mangaluru" in Kannada. Among most of the residents of the city, "Kudla" is the most commonly used name to refer to it. There are also smaller communities of Tuluva Jains, Gujaratis, Tamils, and Marathis. Tulu is a predominant language in Mangalore and Kannada is the administrative language of Mangalore, but the city is multi-cultural. According to the 2011 Census, Tulu is spoken as a first language by 33.7% of the population, Konkani by 14.03%, Kannada by 12.45%, Malayalam by 5.64%, and other languages are spoken by 34.18%. Unlike other cities in Karnataka where Kannada is a primary language, Kannada is the third most spoken language, Tulu is predominant language in Mangalore, and Konkani is the second most spoken language in Mangalore.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore has a city area of . Municipal limits begin at Surathkal in the north, Netravati River bridge in the south, the western coast, and Vamanjoor in the east. Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) came into existence in 1980; it is the municipal corporation in charge of the city's civic and infrastructural assets.


title: Mangalore

text: The MCC council consists of 60 elected representatives which are called "corporators", one from each of the city's 60 wards. A corporator from the ruling majority party is selected to be the mayor. MCC's headquarters are at Lalbagh. Mangalore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) manages the planning, urban growth, and expansion of the city. The District Commissioner is the chairperson of MUDA. The 44 projects which are listed as part of the Smart Cities Mission programme are managed by Mangalore Smart City Limited (MSCL).


title: Mangalore

text: Until the Delimitation commission's revised the "Lok Sabha" and the legislative constituencies, Mangalore contributed two members to the "Lok Sabha"; one for the southern part of the city that fell under the Mangalore "Lok Sabha" constituency and another for the northern part of the city that fell under the Udupi "Lok Sabha" constituency. After the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, Mangalore "Lok Sabha" constituency was replaced with Dakshina Kannada "Lok Sabha" constituency, resulting in Mangalore being represented by one Member of Parliament (MP). Additionally Mangalore sends three members to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Mangalore City South, Mangalore City North, and Mangalore. The Mangalore City Police Department is headed by a Commissioner of Police. Mangalore is also the headquarters of the Western Range Police, which covers the western districts of Karnataka and is headed by an Inspector General of Police (IGP).


title: Mangalore

text: The city is served by various hospitals such as the KMC Hospitals, Father Muller Charitable Institutions (FMCI), AJ Hospital, and Wenlock Hospital. Wenlock Hospital, a teaching hospital of KMC Mangalore has around 1000 beds and caters to the healthcare needs of the neighboring districts. Mangalore is a hub for medical tourism and receives patients from foreign countries. From 2017–19, around 240 foreign nationals were treated in three hospitals across the city. Approximately 50 per cent of the patients (the foreign nationals) arrived in 2018 and 2019. KMC, AJ, and Yenepoya Hospitals have received the highest number of foreign patients, including those from the United States. At Yenepoya Hospital, 68 foreign nationals have availed treatment during 2017–19. The largest inflow of foreign patients into Mangalore is from the Gulf countries. Deralakatte is a main healthcare hub of Mangalore.


title: Mangalore

text: In Mangalore, electricity is regulated by the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) and distributed through Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM). Major state-owned enterprises such as Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) and Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers (MCF) operate their own captive power plants.


title: Mangalore

text: Potable water is supplied to the city from a vented dam that was constructed across the Netravati River at Thumbe, from Mangalore. The Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP) aims to improve safe water supply systems also reducing leakage and losses in the city's distribution system. The distribution and rehabilitation of the drinking water in the city are handled by the French company Suez Environnement. Mangalore's official refuse disposal site is in Vamanjoor. The city generates an average of 175 tonnes per day of waste, which is handled by the MCC's health department.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore is the headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada Telecom District, the second largest telecom district in Karnataka. Fixed-line telecom services are provided alongside GSM and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services. Prominent broadband internet service providers in the city include Airtel and DataOne by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.


title: Mangalore

text: The districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are considered to be a major education corridor in India. Deralakatte is a University and Medical town in Mangalore where Universities like Mangalore University, Nitte, Yenepoya, Father Mullers, and Kanachur are situated. In schools and colleges which are below university-level, the media of instruction are mostly English and Kannada, and English is used for teaching in universities.


title: Mangalore

text: Here are some of the earliest schools and colleges established in Mangalore, and their years of establishment


title: Mangalore

text: Kasturba Medical College which was established in 1953, was India's first private medical college and Manipal College Of Dental Sciences (MCODS) was established in the city in 1987. A public library run by the Corporation Bank is located at Mannagudda. Mangalore University was established on 10 September 1980 to fulfil the higher-education needs of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts. It is a National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)-accredited, four-star-level institution. NITK houses South India's first Regional Academy Centre for Space (RAC-S) which was launched by ISRO.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore International Airport (IATA: IXE, ICAO: VOML) is located near Bajpe-Kenjar and about north-east of Mangalore city centre. It operates regular scheduled flights to major cities in India and the Middle East. It is the second-largest and second-busiest airport in Karnataka. New terminals and runways at the airport accommodate both cargo and passenger requirements. This airport is accredited by the Airports Council International (ACI) under the Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) programme. State-government-run buses connect the city with the airport.


title: Mangalore

text: Five National Highways pass through Mangalore. NH-66 (previously known as NH-17), which runs from Panvel, Maharashtra, to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, passes through Mangalore in a north–south direction. NH-75 (previously known as NH-48) runs eastward to Bangalore and Vellore. NH-169 (previously known as NH-13) runs north-east from Mangalore to Shimoga. NH-73, a -long National Highway connects Mangalore to Tumkur. NH-275 also connects Mangalore with Bangalore via Mysore. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is upgrading the national highways connecting New Mangalore Port to Surathkal on NH-66 and BC Road junction on NH-75. Under the port connectivity programme of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), a stretch of these highways will be widened from two lanes to four.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore's city bus service is dominated by private operators, which operate routes that extend beyond the city's boundary. Bus services from Mangalore are operated by the Dakshina Kannada Bus Operators' Association (DKBOA) and Canara Bus Operators Association (CBOA). Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) also runs bus services in the city. Two distinct sets of routes for the buses exist; city routes are covered by city buses while intercity routes are covered by service and express buses. KSRTC also operates long-distance bus services that connect Mangalore with other parts of the state. KSRTC JnNurm green city buses operate within the city limits.


title: Mangalore

text: Rail connectivity in Mangalore was established in 1907; the city was the starting point of India's longest rail route. The city has three railway stations; Mangalore Central at Hampankatta, Mangalore Junction at Padil, and Surathkal railway station. A railway track built through the Western Ghats connects Mangalore with Sakleshpur and Hassan. The broad gauge track connecting Mangalore to Bangalore via Hassan was opened to freight traffic in May 2006 and passenger traffic in December 2007. Mangalore is also connected to Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Bhatkal, Karwar, Surat, Ajmer, and Margao through the Konkan Railway.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore Harbour has shipping, storage, and logistical services; New Mangalore Port handles dry, bulk and fluid cargoes, and is equipped to handle petroleum oil lubricants, crude products and LPG containers. The Indian Coast Guard has a station at New Mangalore Port. The artificial harbour is India's seventh largest container port and the only major port in Karnataka. Electronic visa (e-visa) facilities are available for travellers arriving in India at New Mangalore Port.


title: Mangalore

text: Many classical dance forms and folk art are practised in Mangalore. "Yakshagana" is a night-long dance and drama performance while "Pilivesha" (tiger dance), a folk dance unique to the city, is performed during "Dasara" and "Krishna Janmashtami". "Karadi Vesha" (bear dance) is another well-known dance that is performed during "Dasara".


title: Mangalore

text: "Paddanas", ballad-like epics passed on verbally through generations, are sung by a community of impersonators in Tulu and are usually accompanied by the rhythmic drum beats. The Bearys' unique traditions are reflected in folk songs such as "Kolkai" (sung during "Kolata", a valour folk-dance during which sticks are used as props), "Unjal Pat" (traditional lullaby), "Moilanji Pat" and "Oppune Pat" (sung at weddings). The "Evkaristik Purshanv" (Konkani: Eucharistic procession) is an annual Catholic religious procession that is held on the first Sunday of each year.


title: Mangalore

text: Most of the popular Indian festivals are celebrated, the most important are Dasara, Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi. Kodial Theru, also known as "Mangaluru Rathotsava" (chariot festival) is unique to the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community and is celebrated at the city's Sri Venkatramana Temple.


title: Mangalore

text: The Mangalore Catholic community's unique festivals include "Monti Fest" (Mother Mary's feast), which celebrates the Nativity feast and the blessing of new harvests. The "Jain Milan", a committee that consists of Jain families, organises the annual Jain food festival, while "Mosaru Kudike" (curd pots feast), which is part of "Krishna Janmashtami" festival is celebrated by the whole community. Special night prayers called Taraveeh (rest and relaxation) are offered in mosques during the month of Ramadan.


title: Mangalore

text: "Aati", a festival worshiping "Kalenja", a patron spirit of the city, is during the "Aashaadha" month of Hindu calendar. Festivals such as "Karavali Utsav" (coastal festival) and "Kudlotsava" (Tulu: festival of Mangalore) are celebrated with national and state-level performances in dance, drama and music. "Bhuta Kola" (spirit worship) is usually performed by the Tuluva community at night. Bhuta Kola is similar to Theyyam in Kerala. "Nagaradhane" (snake worship) is performed in praise of "Naga Devatha" (the serpent king), who is said to be the protector of all snakes. "Kori Katta", an ancient ritual associated with the Hindu temples in rural areas, a religious and spiritual cockfight, is held at the temples when permission is given by police.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalorean cuisine is largely influenced by South Indian cuisine; several local cuisines are unique to the diverse communities of the region. Coconut, curry leaves, ginger, garlic, and chili are common ingredients in Mangalorean curries. Well-known Mangalorean dishes include kori rotti, neer dosa, pundi (rice ball), patrode, golibaje and Mangalore buns. Mangalorean cuisine is also known for fish and chicken dishes like "bangude pulimunchi" (spicy sour silver-grey mackerels), "boothai gasi" (sardine semi-gravy), "anjal" fry, Mangalorean Chicken Sukka, and Chicken Ghee Roast. Due to Mangalore being a coastal city, fish is a staple of most people's diet. The Konkani Hindu community's specialties include "daali thoy" (lentil curry), "bibbe-upkari" (tender cashew-nut curry), "val val" (coconut-milk-based curry), "ambat" (vegetable-based coconut curry), "avnas ambe sasam" (pineapple-mango fruit salad), "kadgi chakko" (raw jackfruit-coconut curry), "paagila podi" (spine gourd fries), and "chane gashi" (chickpea curry). Mangalorean Catholics' dish "sanna-dukra maas" ("sanna"—"idli" fluffed with toddy or yeast; "dukra maas"—pork), "pork bafat", "sorpotel", and mutton "biryani" of the Beary Muslims are well-known dishes. Pickles such as "happala", "sandige", and "puli munchi" are unique to Mangalore. "Shendi" (toddy) which is a country liquor prepared from coconut flower sap, is popular. Vegetarian cuisine, also known as Udupi cuisine, is known throughout the state and region.


title: Mangalore

text: "Mangaluru Samachara", the first ever newspaper in Kannada, was published in 1843 by Hermann Mögling of the Basel Mission. The first Kannada-to-English dictionary was published in Mangalore by Ferdinand Kittel in 1894. Major national English-language newspapers such as "Times of India", "The Hindu", "The New Indian Express", "Deccan Herald" and "Daijiworld" publish localised Mangalore editions. "Madipu" (Esteem), "Mogaveera", "Samparka" (Contact) and "Saphala" (Success) are the well-known Tulu periodicals in Mangalore.


title: Mangalore

text: Popular Konkani language periodicals published in the city are "Raknno" (Guardian), "Konknni Dirvem" (Konkani Treasure) and "Kannik" (Offering). Beary periodicals published in Mangalore include "Jyothi" (Light) and "Swatantra Bharata" (Independent India). Kannada-language newspapers are "Udayavani" (Morning Voice) by Manipal Press Ltd, "Vijaya Karnataka" (Victory of Karnataka) and "Vijayavani" (Voice of Victory) by VRL Group, "Prajavani" (Voice of the People), "Kannada Prabha" (Kannada Radiance), "Varthabharathi" (Indian News), "Samyukta Karnataka" (United Karnataka), and "Hosa Digantha" (New Horizon). The city's evening newspapers include "Karavali Ale" (Waves from the Coast), "Mangaluru Mitra" (Friend of Mangalore), "Sanjevani" (Evening Voice), and "Jayakirana" (Rays of Victory) are also published in the city. The Konkani-language newspaper "Kodial Khabar" (Mangalore News) is published fortnightly. Malayalam newspapers such as "Malayala Manorama" (Malayalam Entertainer) and "Madhyamam" (Medium) publish localised Mangalore editions.


title: Mangalore

text: The state-run, nationally broadcast television channel Doordarshan provides national and local television coverage.


title: Mangalore

text: Cable television also provides channels from independently owned private networks. Canara TV and V4 Digital infotech network, local Multi System Operators, transmits daily video news channels, live events and cultural programmes to the city through local channels. Multiple local television channels broadcast programmes and news in Tulu, Konkani, Beary and Kannada; these include Namma TV, V4 News and Spandana. Tulu channels are Namma Kudla and Posa Kural. All India Radio (AIR) has a studio at Kadri and broadcasts to Mangalore on 100.3 MHz. Mangalore's private FM stations include Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM, Big 92.7 FM and Red 93.5 FM. Radio SARANG 107.8 is a community radio station that is run by St. Aloysius College.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore is home to the Tulu film industry which releases one film per month on average. Popular Tulu films include "Kadala Mage" (Son of the Sea) and "Suddha" (The Cleansing Rites). Tulu dramas which are mostly played in the Town Hall at Hampankatta, are very popular. Mangalore hosted the Tulu film festivals in 2006 and 2015.


title: Mangalore

text: Cricket is a popular sport in Mangalore. Local cricket stadia include Mangala Stadium and B.R. Ambedkar Cricket Stadium (near NMPT). The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has a sports training centre at Mangala Stadium. Mangalore United is a Karnataka Premier League (KPL) franchise owned by Fiza Developers. Mangalore Premier League (MPL) is a cricket tournament organised by Karnataka Regional Cricket Academy. Nehru Maidan is an important local venue that hosts domestic, inter-school and intercollegiate tournaments. Mangalore Sports Club (MSC) has been elected as the institutional member for the Mangalore Zone of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). Lokesh Rahul, commonly known as KL Rahul and Budhi Kunderan, a former Indian wicket-keeper are from Mangalore. Ravi Shastri, who represented India for several years in international cricket as an all-rounder and captained the team, is of Mangalorean descent.


title: Mangalore

text: Football is also a popular sport in the city and is usually played in the "maidans" (grounds); the Nehru Maidan is the most popular venue for domestic tournaments. Dakshina Kannada District Football Association (DKDFA) annually organises the "Independence Day Cup", which is played on Independence Day at district football grounds adjacent to Nehru Maidan. Schools and colleges from across Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts participate and the matches are conducted under seven categories for children and young adults in education. Chess is a popular indoor pastime in the city. Mangalore is the headquarters of South Kanara District Chess Association (SKDCA), which has hosted two All India Open Chess tournaments. Other sports such as tennis, squash, billiards, badminton, table tennis and golf are played in clubs and gymkhanas in Mangalore. Pilikula Nisargadhama, an integrated theme park, has an 18-hole golf course at Vamanjoor. U S Mallya Indoor Stadium offers sporting facilities for badminton and basketball players.


title: Mangalore

text: Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. The city's temples and buildings include the Mangaladevi Temple, Kadri Manjunath Temple, St Aloysius Chapel, the Rosario Cathedral, Milagres Church, Dargah of Hazrat Shareef ul Madni at Ullal, and the Zeenath Baksh Jumma Masjid in Bunder.


title: Mangalore

text: The city is known for beaches such as Panambur, Tannirbhavi, NITK beach, Sasihithlu beach, Someshwara beach, Ullal beach, Kotekar beach and Batapady beach. Panambur and Thannirbhavi beaches attract tourists from across the country. Panambur beach has facilities including food stalls, jet ski rides, boating and dolphin viewing; trained beach lifeguards and patrol vehicles ensure the safety of visitors.


title: Mangalore

text: Saavira Kambada Basadi is situated in Moodabidri, north-east of Mangalore. The Sultan Battery watch tower built by Tipu Sultan is situated in Boloor on the banks of Gurupura River; visitors can take the ferry across the river to Tannirbhavi Beach. Adyar waterfalls is on the city's outskirts about from Mangalore city centre.


title: Mangalore

text: The city has developed and maintains public parks such as Pilikula Nisargadhama, Kadri Park, Tagore Park at Light House Hill, Mahatma Gandhi Park at Gandhinagar in Mannagudda, Tannirbavi Tree Park, Arise Awake Park at Karangalpady, and Corporation Bank Park at Nehru Maidan. Pilikula, which occupies , has a zoo, botanical garden, lake, water park ("manasa"), Swami Vivekananda Planetarium, science centre, and a 18-hole golf course. Swami Vivekananda Planetarium is the first 3D planetarium in India with an 8K resolution display.


title: Mangalore

text: "Mangalore Dasara", a ten-day festival held at Sri Gokarnatheswara temple attracts devotees from across India. Mangaladevi Temple attracts devotees from all over the country during "Navaratri".


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members within the genus of "Buteo" in North America or worldwide. The red-tailed hawk is one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk", though it rarely preys on standard-sized chickens. The bird is sometimes also referred to as the red-tail for short, when the meaning is clear in context. Red-tailed hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range, occurring on the edges of non-ideal habitats such as dense forests and sandy deserts. The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands (from small meadows to the treed fringes of more extensive prairies), coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas. Its latitudinal limits fall around the tree line in the subarctic and it is absent from the high Arctic. Generally it favors varied habitats with open woodland, woodland edge and open terrain. It is legally protected in Canada, Mexico, and the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The 14 recognized subspecies vary in appearance and range, varying most often in color, and in the west of North America, red-tails are particularly often strongly polymorphic, with individuals ranging from almost white to nearly all black. The subspecies Harlan's hawk ("B. j. harlani") is sometimes considered a separate species ("B. harlani"). The red-tailed hawk is one of the largest members of the genus "Buteo", typically weighing from and measuring in length, with a wingspan from . This species displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than males.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The diet of red-tailed hawks is highly variable and reflects their status as opportunistic generalists, but in North America, they are most often predators of small mammals such as rodents of an immense diversity of families and species. Prey that is terrestrial and at least partially diurnal is preferred, so types such as ground squirrels are preferred where they naturally occur. Over much of the range, smallish rodents such as voles alternated with larger rabbits and hares often collectively form the bulk of the diet. Large numbers of birds and reptiles can occur in the diet in several areas, and can even be the primary foods. Meanwhile, amphibians, fish and invertebrates can seem rare in the hawk’s regular diet, but they are not infrequently taken by immature hawks. Red-tailed hawks may survive on islands absent of native mammals on diets variously including invertebrates such as crabs, as well as lizards or birds. Like many "Buteo" species, they hunt from a perch most often, but can vary their hunting techniques where prey and habitat demand it. Because they are so common and easily trained as capable hunters, in the United States they are the most commonly captured hawks for falconry. Falconers are permitted to take only passage hawks (which have left the nest, are on their own, but are less than a year old) so as to not affect the breeding population. Adults, which may be breeding or rearing chicks, may not be taken for falconry purposes, and doing so is illegal. Passage red-tailed hawks are also preferred by falconers because these younger birds have not yet developed the adult behaviors that would make them more difficult to train.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk was formally described in 1788 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin under the binomial name "Falco jamaicensis". Gmelin based his description on the "cream-coloured buzzard" described in 1781 by John Latham in his "A General Synopsis of Birds". The type locality is Jamaica. The red-tailed hawk is now placed in the genus "Buteo" that was erected by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk is a member of the subfamily Buteoninae, which includes about 55 currently recognized species. Unlike many lineages of accipitrids, which seemed to have radiated out of Africa or south Asia, the Buteoninae clearly originated in the Americas based on fossil records and current species distributions (more than 75% of the extant hawks from this lineage are found in the Americas). As a subfamily, the Buteoninae seem to be rather old based on genetic materials, with monophyletic genera bearing several million years of individual evolution. Diverse in plumage appearance, habitat, prey, and nesting preferences, buteonine hawks are nonetheless typically medium- to large-sized hawks with ample wings (while some fossil forms are very large, larger than any eagle alive today). The red-tailed hawk is a member of the genus "Buteo", a group of medium-sized raptors with robust bodies and broad wings. Members of this genus are known as "buzzards" in Eurasia, but "hawks" in North America. Under current classification, the genus includes about 29 species, the second-most diverse of all extant accipitrid genera behind only "Accipiter". The buzzards of Eurasia and Africa are mostly part of the genus "Buteo", although two other small genera within the subfamily Buteoninae occur in Africa.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: At one time, the rufous-tailed hawk ("B. ventralis"), distributed in Patagonia and some other areas of southern South America, was considered part of the red-tailed hawk species. With a massive distributional gap consisting of most of South America, the rufous-tailed hawk is considered a separate species now, but the two hawks still compromise a "species pair" or superspecies, as they are clearly closely related. The rufous-tailed hawk, while comparatively little studied, is very similar to the red-tailed hawk, being about the same size and possessing the same wing structure, and having more or less parallel nesting and hunting habits. Physically, however, rufous-tailed hawk adults do not attain a bright brick-red tail as do red-tailed hawks, instead retaining a dark brownish-cinnamon tail with many blackish crossbars similar to juvenile red-tailed hawks. Another, more well-known, close relative to the red-tailed hawk is the common buzzard ("B. buteo"), which has been considered as its Eurasian "broad ecological counterpart" and may also be within a species complex with red-tailed hawks. The common buzzard, in turn, is also part of a species complex with other Old World buzzards, namely the mountain buzzard ("B. oreophilus"), the forest buzzard ("B. trizonatus" ), and the Madagascar buzzard ("B. brachypterus"). All six species, although varying notably in size and plumage characteristics, in the alleged species complex that contains the red-tailed hawk share with it the feature of the blackish patagium marking, which is missing in most other "Buteo" spp.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: At least 14 recognized subspecies of "B. jamaicensis" are described, which vary in range and in coloration. Not all authors accept every subspecies, though, particularly some of the insular races of the tropics (which differ only slightly in some cases from the nearest mainland forms) and particularly Krider's hawk, by far the most controversial red-tailed hawk race, as few authors agree on its suitability as a full-fledged subspecies.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Red-tailed hawk plumage can be variable, depending on the subspecies and the region. These color variations are morphs, and are not related to molting. The western North American population, "B. j. calurus", is the most variable subspecies and has three main color morphs: light, dark, and intermediate or rufous. The dark and intermediate morphs constitute 10–20% of the population in the Western United States, but seem to constitute only 1–2% of "B. j. calurus" in western Canada. A whitish underbelly with a dark brown band across the belly, formed by horizontal streaks in feather patterning, is present in most color variations. This feature is variable in eastern hawks and generally absent in some light subspecies (i.e. "B. j. fuertesi"). Most adult red-tails have a dark-brown nape and upper head, which gives them a somewhat hooded appearance, while the throat can variably present a lighter brown "necklace". Especially in younger birds, the underside may be otherwise covered with dark-brown spotting, and some adults may too manifest this stippling. The back is usually a slightly darker brown than elsewhere with paler scapular feathers, ranging from tawny to white, forming a variable imperfect "V" on the back. The tail of most adults, which gives this species its name, is rufous brick-red above with a variably sized, black subterminal band and generally appears light buff-orange from below. In comparison, the typical pale immatures (i.e. less than two years old) typically have a mildly paler headed and tend to show a darker back than adults with more apparent pale wing-feather edges above (for descriptions of dark morph juveniles from "B. j. calurus", which is also generally apt for description of rare dark morphs of other races, see under that subspecies description). In immature red-tailed hawks of all morphs, the tail is a light brown above with numerous small dark brown bars of roughly equal width, but these tend to be much broader on dark morph birds. Even in young red-tails, the tail may be a somewhat rufous tinge of brown. The bill is relatively short and dark, in the hooked shape characteristic of raptors, and the head can sometimes appear small in size against the thick body frame. The cere, the legs, and the feet of the red-tailed hawk are all yellow, as is the color of bare parts in many accipitrids of different lineages. Immature birds can be readily identified at close range by their yellowish irises. As the bird attains full maturity over the course of 3–4 years, the iris slowly darkens into a reddish-brown, which is the adult eye-color in all races. Seen in flight, adults usually have dark brown along the lower edge of the wings, against a mostly pale wing, which bares light brownish barring. Individually, the underwing coverts can range from all dark to off-whitish (most often more heavily streaked with brown) which contrasts with a distinctive black patagium marking. The wing coloring of adults and immatures is similar but for typical pale morph immatures having somewhat heavier brownish markings.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Though the markings and color vary across the subspecies, the basic appearance of the red-tailed hawk is relatively consistent.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Overall, this species is blocky and broad in shape, often appearing (and being) heavier than other "Buteos" of similar length. They are the heaviest "Buteos" on average in eastern North America, albeit scarcely ahead of the larger winged rough-legged buzzard ("Buteo lagopus"), and second only in size in the west to the ferruginous hawk ("Buteo regalis"). Red-tailed hawks may be anywhere from the fifth to the ninth heaviest "Buteo" in the world depending on what figures are used. However, in the northwestern United States, ferruginous hawk females are 35% heavier than female red-tails from the same area. On average, western red-tailed hawks are relatively longer winged and lankier proportioned but are slightly less stocky, compact and heavy than eastern red-tailed hawks in North America. Eastern hawks may also have mildly larger talons and bills than western ones. Based on comparisons of morphology and function amongst all accipitrids, these features imply that western red-tails may need to vary their hunting more frequently to on the wing as the habitat diversifies to more open situations and presumably would hunt more variable and faster prey, whereas the birds of the east, which was historically well-wooded, are more dedicated perch hunters and can take somewhat larger prey but are likely more dedicated mammal hunters. In terms of size variation, red-tailed hawks run almost contrary to Bergmann's rule (i.e. that northern animals should be larger in relation than those closer to the Equator within a species) as one of the northernmost subspecies, "B. j. alascensis", is the second smallest race based on linear dimensions and that two of the most southerly occurring races in the United States, "B. j. fuertesi" and "B. j. umbrinus", respectively, are the largest proportioned of all red-tailed hawks. Red-tailed hawks tend have a relatively short but broad tails and thick, chunky wings. Although often described as long-winged, the proportional size of the wings is quite small and red-tails have high wing loading for a buteonine hawk. For comparison, two other widespread "Buteo" hawks in North America were found to weigh: for every square centimeter of wing area in the rough-legged buzzard ("B. lagopus") and /cm in the red-shouldered hawk ("B. lineatus"). In contrast, the red-tailed hawk weighed considerably more for their wing area: per square cm.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: As is the case with many raptors, the red-tailed hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, as females are on average 25% larger than males. As is typical in large raptors, frequently reported mean body mass for red-tailed hawks is somewhat higher than expansive research reveals. Part of this weight variation is seasonal fluctuations; hawks tend to be heavier in winter than during migration or especially during the trying summer breeding season, and also due to clinal variation. Furthermore, immature hawks are usually lighter in mass than their adult counterparts despite having somewhat longer wings and tails. Male red-tailed hawks may weigh from and females may weigh (the lowest figure from a migrating female immature from Goshute Mountains, Nevada, the highest from a wintering female in Wisconsin). Some sources claim the largest females can weigh up to , but whether this is in reference to wild hawks (as opposed to those in captivity or used for falconry) is not clear. The largest known survey of body mass in red-tailed hawks is still credited to Craighead and Craighead (1956), who found 100 males to average and 108 females to average . However, these figures were apparently taken from labels on museum specimens, from natural history collections in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, without note to the region, age, or subspecies of the specimens. However, 16 sources ranging in sample size from the aforementioned 208 specimens to only four hawks in Puerto Rico (with 9 of the 16 studies of migrating red-tails), showed that males weigh a mean of and females weigh a mean of , about 15% lighter than prior species-wide published weights. Within the continental United States, typical weights of males can range from (for migrating males in Chelan County, Washington) to (for male hawks found dead in Massachusetts), and females ranged from (migrants in the Goshutes) to (for females diagnosed as "B. j. borealis" in western Kansas). Size variation in body mass reveals that the red-tailed hawk typically varies only a modest amount and that size differences are geographically inconsistent.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Male red-tailed hawks can measure in total length, females measuring long. Their wingspan typically can range from , although the largest females may possible span up to . In the standard scientific method of measuring wing size, the wing chord is long. The tail measures in length. The exposed culmen was reported to range from and the tarsus averaged across the races. The middle toe (excluding talon) can range from , with the hallux-claw (the talon of the rear toe, which has evolved to be the largest in accipitrids) measuring from in length.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Although they overlap in range with most other American diurnal raptors, identifying most mature red-tailed hawks to species is relatively straightforward, particularly if viewing a typical adult at a reasonable distance. The red-tailed hawk is the only North American hawk with a rufous tail and a blackish patagium marking on the leading edge of its wing (which is obscured only on dark morph adults and Harlan’s hawks by similarly dark-colored feathers). Other larger adult "Buteo" spp. in North America usually have obvious distinct markings that are absent in red-tails, whether the rufous-brown "beard" of Swainson's hawks ("B. swainsonii") or the colorful rufous belly and shoulder markings and striking black-and-white mantle of red-shouldered hawks (also the small "windows" seen at the end of their primaries). In perched individuals, even as silhouettes, the shape of large "Buteo" spp. may be distinctive, such as the wingtips overhanging the tail in several other species, but not in red-tails. North American "Buteo" spp. range from the dainty, compact builds of much smaller ones, such as broad-winged hawk ("B. platypterus") to the heavyset, neckless look of ferruginous hawks or the rough-legged buzzards, which have a compact, smaller appearance than a red-tail in perched birds due to its small bill, short neck, and much shorter tarsi, while the opposite effect occurs in flying rough-legs with their much bigger wing area. In flight, most other large North American "Buteo" spp. are distinctly longer and more slender-winged than red-tailed hawks, with the much paler ferruginous hawk having peculiarly slender wings in relation to its massive, chunky body. Swainson's hawks are distinctly darker on the wing and ferruginous hawks are much paler-winged than typical red-tailed hawks. Pale morph adult ferruginous hawk can show mildly tawny-pink (but never truly rufous) upper tail, and like red-tails tend to have dark markings on underwing-coverts and can have a dark belly band, but compared to red-tailed hawks have a distinctly broader head, their remiges are much whiter looking with very small, dark primary tips, they lack the red-tail's diagnostic patagial marks and usually also lack the dark subterminal tail-band, and ferruginous hawks have totally feathered tarsi. With its whitish head, the ferruginous hawk is most similar to Krider's red-tailed hawks, especially in immature plumage, but the larger hawk has broader head and narrower wing shape, and the ferruginous immatures are paler underneath and on their legs. Several species share a belly band with the typical red-tailed hawk, but they vary from subtle (as in the ferruginous hawk) to solid blackish, the latter in most light-morph rough-legged buzzards. More difficult to identify among adult red-tails are their darkest variations, as most species of "Buteo" in North America also have dark morphs. Western dark morph red-tails (i.e. "B. j. calurus") adults, however, retain the typical distinctive brick-red tail, which other species lack, and may stand out even more against the otherwise all chocolate-brown to black bird. Standard pale juveniles when perched show a whitish patch in the outer half of the upper surface of the wing, which other juvenile "Buteo" spp. lack. The most difficult to identify stages and plumage types are dark morph juveniles, Harlan's hawk and some Krider's hawks (the latter mainly with typical ferruginous hawks as mentioned). Some darker juveniles are similar enough to other "Buteo" juveniles that they "cannot be identified to species with any confidence under various field conditions." However, field identification techniques have advanced in the last few decades and most experienced hawk-watchers can distinguish even the most vexingly plumaged immature hawks, especially as the wing shapes of each species becomes apparent after seeing many. Harlan’s hawks are most similar to dark morph rough-legged buzzards and dark morph ferruginous hawks. Wing shape is the most reliable identification tool for distinguishing Harlan's hawks from these, but also the pale streaking on the breast of Harlan's, which tends to be conspicuous in most individuals, and is lacking in the other hawks. Also, dark morph ferruginous hawks do not have the dark subterminal band of a Harlan's hawk, but do bear a black undertail covert lacking in Harlan's.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The cry of the red-tailed hawk is a 2- to 3-second, hoarse, rasping scream, variously transcribed as "kree-eee-ar", "tsee-eeee-arrr" or "sheeeeee", that begins at a high pitch and slurs downward. This cry is often described as sounding similar to a steam whistle. The red-tailed hawk frequently vocalizes while hunting or soaring, but vocalizes loudest and most persistently in defiance or anger, in response to a predator or a rival hawk's intrusion into its territory. At close range, it makes a croaking "guh-runk", possibly as a warning sound. Nestlings may give peeping notes with a "soft, sleepy quality" that give way to occasional screams as they develop, but those are more likely to be a soft whistle rather than the harsh screams of the adults. Their latter hunger call, given from 11 days (as recorded in Alaska) to after fledgling (in California), is different, a two-syllabled, wailing "klee-uk" food cry exerted by the young when parents leave the nest or enter their field of vision. A strange mechanical sound "not very unlike the rush of distant water" has been reported as uttered in the midst of a sky-dance. A modified call of "chirp-chwirk" is given during courtship, while a low key, duck-like nasal "gank" may be given by pairs when they are relaxed.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The fierce, screaming cry of the adult red-tailed hawk is frequently used as a generic raptor sound effect in television shows and other media, even if the bird featured is not a red-tailed hawk. It is especially used in depictions of the bald eagle, which contributes to the common misconception that it is a bald eagle cry; actual bald eagle vocalizations are far softer and more chirpy than those of a red-tailed hawk.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk is one of the most widely distributed of all raptors in the Americas. It occupies the largest breeding range of any diurnal raptor north of the Mexican border, just ahead of the American kestrel ("Falco sparverius"). While the peregrine falcon ("Falco peregrinus") has a greater latitudinal distribution as a nester in North America, its range as a breeding species is far more sporadic and sparse than that of red-tailed hawks. The red-tailed hawk breeds from nearly north-central Alaska, the Yukon, and a considerable portion of the Northwest Territories, there reaching as far as a breeder as Inuvik, Mackenzie River Delta and skirting the southern shores of Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake. Thereafter in northern Canada, breeding red-tails continue to northern Saskatchewan and across to north-central Ontario east to central Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and south continuously to Florida. No substantial gaps occur throughout the entire contiguous United States, where breeding red-tailed hawks do not occur. Along the Pacific, their range includes all of Baja California, including Islas Marías, and Socorro Island in the Revillagigedo Islands. On the mainland, breeding red-tails are found continuously to Oaxaca, then experience a brief gap at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec thereafter subsequently continuing from Chiapas through central Guatemala on to northern Nicaragua. To the south, the population in highlands from Costa Rica to central Panama is isolated from breeding birds in Nicaragua. Further east, breeding red-tailed hawks occur in the West Indies in north Bahamas (i.e. Grand Bahama, Abaco and Andros) and all larger islands (such as Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico) and into the northern Lesser Antilles (Virgin Islands, Saint Barthélemy, Saba, Saint Kitts, and Nevis, being rare as a resident on Saint Eustatius and are probably extinct on Saint Martin). Their typical winter range stretches from southern Canada south throughout the remainder of the breeding range.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Red-tailed hawks have shown the ability to become habituated to almost any habitat present in North and Central America. Their preferred habitat is mixed forest and field, largely woodland edge with tall trees or alternately high bluffs that may be used as nesting and perching sites. They occupy a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands, nearly any coastal or wetland habitat, mountains, foothills, coniferous and deciduous woodlands, and tropical rainforests. Agricultural fields and pastures, which are more often than not varied with groves, ridges, or streamside trees in most parts of America, may make nearly ideal habitat for breeding or wintering red-tails. They also adapt well to suburban areas especially ones with tall trees or any kind of parkland. Some red-tails may survive or even flourish in urban areas, usually hunting and roosting in available urban parks, cemeteries, road verges, and so on, and nesting freely either in trees or virtually any tall man-made structures. One famous urban red-tailed hawk, known as "Pale Male", became the subject of a nonfiction book, "Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park", and is the first known red-tail in decades to successfully nest and raise young in the crowded New York City borough of Manhattan. As studied in Syracuse, New York, the highway system has been very beneficial to red-tails as it juxtaposed trees and open areas and blocks human encroachment with fences, with the red-tailed hawks easily becoming acclimated to car traffic. The only practice that has a negative effect on the highway-occupying red-tails is the planting of exotic "Phragmites", which may occasionally obscure otherwise ideal highway habitat.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: In the northern Great Plains, the widespread practices of wildfire suppression and planting of exotic trees by humans has allowed groves of aspen and various other trees to invade what was once vast, almost continuous prairie grasslands, causing grassland obligates such as ferruginous hawks to decline and allowing parkland-favoring red-tails to flourish. To the contrary, clear-cutting of mature woodlands in New England, resulting in only fragmented and isolated stands of trees or low second growth remaining, was recorded to also benefit red-tailed hawks, despite being to the determent of breeding red-shouldered hawks. The red-tailed hawk, as a whole, rivals the peregrine falcon and the great horned owl among raptorial birds in the use of diverse habitats in North America. Beyond the high Arctic (as they discontinue as a breeder at the tree line), few other areas exist where red-tailed hawks are absent or rare in North and Central America. Some areas of unbroken forest, especially lowland tropical forests, rarely host red-tailed hawks, although they can occupy forested tropical highlands surprisingly well. In deserts, they can only occur where some variety of arborescent growth or ample rocky bluffs or canyons occur.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk is highly conspicuous to humans in much of its daily behavior. Most birds in resident populations, which are well more than half of all red-tailed hawks, usually split nonbreeding-season activity between territorial soaring flight and sitting on a perch. Often, perching is for hunting purposes, but many sit on a tree branch for hours, occasionally stretching on a single wing or leg to keep limber, with no signs of hunting intent. Wintering typical pale-morph hawks in Arkansas were found to perch in open areas near the top of tall, isolated trees, whereas dark morphs more frequently perched in dense groups of trees. For many, and perhaps most, red-tailed hawks being mobbed by various birds is a daily concern and can effectively disrupt many of their daily behaviors. Mostly larger passerines, of multiple families from tyrant flycatchers to icterids, mob red-tails, despite other raptors, such as "Accipiter" hawks and falcons, being a notably greater danger to them. The most aggressive and dangerous attacker as such is likely to be various crows or other corvids, i.e. American crows ("Corvus brachyrhynchos"), because a mobbing group (or "murder") of them can number up to as many as 75 crows, which may cause grievous physical harm to a solitary hawk, and if the hawks are nesting, separate the parent hawks and endanger the eggs or nestlings within their nest to predation by crows. Birds that mob red-tailed hawks can tell how distended the hawk's crop is (i.e. the upper chest and throat area being puffy versus flat-feathered and sleek), thus mob more often when the hawk is presumably about to hunt.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: In flight, this hawk soars with wings often in a slight dihedral, flapping as little as possible to conserve energy. Soaring is by far the most efficient method of flight for red-tailed hawks, so is used more often than not. Active flight is slow and deliberate, with deep wing beats. Wing beats are somewhat less rapid in active flight than in most other "Buteo" hawks, even heavier species such as ferruginous hawks tend to flap more swiftly, due to the morphology of the wings. In wind, it occasionally hovers on beating wings and remains stationary above the ground, but this flight method is rarely employed by this species. When soaring or flapping its wings, it typically travels from , but when diving may exceed . Although North American red-tailed hawks will occasionally hunt from flight, a great majority of flight by red-tails in this area is for non-hunting purpose. During nest defense, red-tailed hawks may be capable of surprisingly swift, vigorous flight, while repeatedly diving at perceived threats.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Red-tailed hawks are considered partial migrants, as in about the northern third of their distribution, which is most of their range in Canada and Alaska, they almost entirely vacate their breeding grounds. In coastal areas of the north, however, such as in the Pacific Northwest to southern Alaska and in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic, red-tailed hawks do not usually migrate. More or less, any area where snow cover is nearly continuous during the winter shows an extended absence of most red-tailed hawks, so some areas as far south as Montana may show strong seasonal vacancies of red-tails. In southern Michigan, immature red-tailed hawks tended to remain in winter only when voles were abundant. During relatively long, harsh winters in Michigan, many more young ones were reported in northeastern Mexico. To the opposite extreme, hawks residing as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska, may persevere through the winter on their home territory, as was recorded with one male over three consecutive years. Birds of any age tend to be territorial during winter but may shift ranges whenever food requirements demand it. Wintering birds tend to perch on inconspicuous tree perches, seeking shelter especially if they have a full crop or are in the midst of poor or overly windy weather. Adult wintering red-tails tend to perch more prominently than immatures do, which select lower or more secluded perches. Immatures are often missed in winter bird counts, unless they are being displaced by dominant adults. Generally, though, immatures can seem to recognize that they are less likely to be attacked by adults during winter and can perch surprisingly close to them. Age is the most significant consideration of wintering hawks' hierarchy, but size does factor in, as larger immatures (presumably usually females) are less likely to displaced than smaller ones. Dark adult red-tailed hawks appear to be harder to locate when perched than other red-tails. In Oklahoma, for example, wintering adult Harlan's hawks were rarely engaged in fights or chased by other red-tails. These hawks tended to gather in regional pockets and frequently the same ones occurred year-to-year. In general, migratory behavior is complex and reliant on each individual hawk's decision-making (i.e. whether prey populations are sufficient to entice the hawk to endure prolonged snow cover). During fall migration, departure may occur as soon as late September, but peak movements occur in late October and all of November in the United States, with migration ceasing after mid-December. The northernmost migrants may pass over resident red-tailed hawks in the contiguous United States, while the latter are still in the midst of brooding fledglings. Not infrequently, several autumn hawk watches in Ontario, Quebec, and the northern United States record 4,500–8,900 red-tailed hawks migrating through each fall, with records of up to 15,000 in a season at Hawk Ridge hawk watch in Duluth, Minnesota. Unlike some other "Buteo" spp., such as Swainson's hawks and broad-winged hawks, red-tailed hawks do not usually migrate in groups, instead passing by one-by-one, and only migrate on days when winds are favorable. Most migrants do not move past southern Mexico in late autumn, but a few North American migrants may annually move as far south as breeding red-tailed hawks happen to occur, i.e. in Central America to as far south Panama. However, a few records were reported of wintering migrant red-tails turning up in Colombia, the first records of them anywhere in South America. Spring northward movements may commence as early as late February, with peak numbers usually occurring in late March and early April. Seasonal counts may include up to 19,000 red-tails in spring at Derby Hill hawk watch, in Oswego, New York, sometimes more than 5,000 are recorded in a day there. The most northerly migratory individuals may not reach breeding grounds until June, even adults.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Immature hawks migrate later than adults in spring on average, but not, generally speaking, in autumn. In the northern Great Lakes, immatures return in late May to early June, when adults are already well into their nesting season and must find unoccupied ranges. In Alaska, adults tend to migrate before immatures in early to mid-September, to the contrary of other areas, probably as heavy snowfall begins. Yearlings that were banded in southwestern Idaho stayed for about 2 months after fledging, and then traveled long distances with a strong directional bias, with 9 of 12 recovered southeast of the study area- six of these moved south to coastal lowlands in Mexico] and as far as Guatemala, from their initial banding. In California, 35 hawks were banded as nestlings; 26 were recovered at less than 50 miles away, with multidirectional juvenile dispersals. Nestlings banded in Southern California sometimes actually traveled north as far as to Oregon, ranging to the opposite extreme as far as a banded bird from the Sierra Nevadas that moved south to Sinaloa. Nestlings banded in Green County, Wisconsin, did not travel very far comparatively by October–November, but by December, recoveries were found in states including Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk is carnivorous, and a highly opportunistic feeder. Nearly any small animal they encounter may be viewed as potential food. Their most common prey are small mammals such as rodents and lagomorphs, but they also consume birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and invertebrates. Prey varies considerably with regional and seasonal availability, but usually centers on rodents, accounting for up to 85% of a hawk's diet. In total, nearly 500 prey species have been recorded in their diet, almost as many as great horned owls have been recorded as taking. When 27 North American studies are reviewed, mammals make up 65.3% of the diet by frequency, 20.9% by birds, 10.8% by reptiles, 2.8% by invertebrates, and 0.2% by amphibians and fish. The geometric mean body mass of prey taken by red-tailed hawks in North America is about based on a pair of compilation studies from across the continent, regionally varying at least from . Staple prey (excluding invertebrates) has been claimed to weigh from , ranging roughly from the size of a small mouse or lizard to the size of a black-tailed jackrabbit ("Lepus californicus"). The daily food requirements range from 7 to 11.2% of their own body weight, so that about three voles or the equivalent weight are required daily for a typical range adult.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The talons and feet of red-tailed hawks are relatively large for a "Buteo" hawk; in an average-sized adult red-tail, the "hallux-claw" or rear talon, the largest claw on all accipitrids, averages about . In fact, the talons of red-tails in some areas averaged of similar size to those of ferruginous hawks which can be considerably heavier and notably larger than those of the only slightly lighter Swainson's hawk. This species may exert an average of about of pressure through its feet. Owing to its morphology, red-tailed hawks generally can attack larger prey than other "Buteo" hawks typically can, and are capable of selecting the largest prey of up to their own size available at the time of hunting, though in all likelihood numerically most prey probably weighs on average about 20% of the hawk's own weight (as is typical of many birds of prey). Red-tailed hawks usually hunt by watching for prey activity from a high perch, also known as still hunting. Upon being spotted, prey is dropped down upon by the hawk. Red-tails often select the highest available perches within a given environment, since the greater the height they are at, the less flapping is required and the faster the downward glide they can attain toward nearby prey. If prey is closer than average, the hawk may glide at a steep downward angle with few flaps, if farther than average, it may flap a few swift wingbeats alternating with glides. Perch hunting is the most successful hunting method generally speaking for red-tailed hawks and can account for up to 83% of their daily activities (i.e. in winter). Wintering pairs may join together and aseasonally may join forces to group hunt agile prey that they may have trouble catching by themselves, such as tree squirrels. This may consist of stalking opposites sides of a tree, to surround the squirrel and almost inevitably drive the rodent to be captured by one after being flushed by the other hawk.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: The most common flighted hunting method for red-tail is to cruise around over the ground with flap-and-glide type flight, interspersed occasionally with harrier-like quarters over the ground. This method is less successful than perch hunting, but seems relatively useful for capturing small birds and may show the best results while hunting in hilly country. Hunting red-tailed hawks readily use trees, bushes, or rocks for concealment before making a surprise attack, even showing a partial ability to dodge among trees in an "Accipiter"-like fashion. Among thick stands of spruce in Alaska, a dodging hunting flight was thought to be unusually important to red-tails living in extensive areas of conifers, with hawks even coming to the ground and walking hurriedly in prey pursuit especially if the prey was large, a similar behavior to goshawks. Additional surprisingly swift aerial hunting has reported in red-tails that habitually hunt bats in Texas. Here, the bat-hunting specialists stooped with half-closed wings, quite falcon-like, plowing through the huge stream of bats exiting their cave roosts, then zooming upwards with a bat in its talons. These hawks also flew parallel closely to the stream, then veer sharply into it and seize a bat. In the neotropics, red-tails have shown the ability to dodge amongst forest canopy whilst hunting. In Kansas, red-tailed hawks were recorded sailing to catch flying insects, a hunting method more typical of a Swainson's hawk. Alternately, they may drop to the ground to forage for insects like grasshoppers and beetles as well as other invertebrates and probably amphibians and fish (except by water in the latter cases). Hunting afoot seems to be particularly prevalent among immatures. Young red-tailed hawks in northeastern Florida were recorded often extracting earthworms from near the surface of the ground and some had a crop full of earthworms after rains. Ground hunting is also quite common on Socorro Island, where no native land mammals occur, and invertebrates are more significant to their overall diet. A red-tailed hawk was observed to incorporate an unconventional killing method, which was drowning a heron immediately after capture. One red-tailed hawk was seen to try to grab a young ground squirrel and, upon missing it, screamed loudly, which in turn caused another young squirrel to break into a run, wherein it was captured. Whether this was an intentional hunting technique needs investigation. Upon capture, smaller prey is taken to a feeding perch, which is almost always lower than a hunting perch. Among small prey, rodents are often swallowed whole, as are shrews and small snakes, while birds are plucked and beheaded. Even prey as small as chipmunks may take two or three bites to consume. Larger mammals of transportable size are at times beheaded and have part of their fur discarded, then leftovers are either stored in a tree or fall to the ground. Large prey, especially if too heavy to transport on the wing, is often dragged to a secluded spot and dismantled in various ways. If they can successfully carry what remains to a low perch, they tend to feed until full and then discard the rest.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Rodents are certainly the type of prey taken most often by frequency, but their contribution to prey biomass at nests can be regionally low, and the type, variety and importance of rodent prey can be highly variable. In total, well over 100 rodent species have turned up the diet of red-tailed hawks. Rodents of extremely varied sizes may be hunted by red-tails, with species ranging in size from the eastern harvest mouse ("Reithrodontomys humulis") to marmots ("Marmota ssp."), weighing some in spring, although whether they can take full grown marmots is questionable. At least some attacks on adult marmots like groundhogs ("Marmota monax") are abortive. At times, the red-tailed hawk is thought of as a semi-specialized vole-catcher, but voles are a subsistence food that are more or less are taken until larger prey such as rabbits and squirrels can be captured. In an area of Michigan, immature hawks took almost entirely voles but adults were diversified feeders. Indeed, the meadow vole ("Microtus pennsylvanicus") was the highest frequency prey species in 27 dietary studies across North America, accounting for up to 54% of the food at nests by frequency. It is quite rare for any one species to make up more than half of the food at any dietary study for red-tailed hawks. In total about 9 "Microtus" species are known in the overall diet, with 5 other voles and lemmings known to be included in their prey spectrum. Another well-represented species was the prairie vole ("Microtus ochrogaster"), which were the primary food, making up 26.4% of a sample of 1322, in eastern Kansas. While crepuscular in primary feeding activity, voles are known to be active both day and night, and so are reliable food for hawks than most non-squirrel rodents, which generally are nocturnal in activity. Indeed, most other microtine rodents are largely inaccessible to red-tailed hawks due to their strongly nocturnal foraging patterns, even though 24 species outside of voles and lemmings are known to be hunted. Woodrats are taken as important supplemental prey in some regions, being considerably larger than most other crictetid rodents, and some numbers of North American deermouse ("Peromyscus maniculatus") may turn up. The largest representation of the latter species was contributing 11.9% of the diet in the Great Basin of Utah, making them the second best represented prey species there. Considering this limited association with nocturnal rodents, the high importance of pocket gophers in the diet of red-tailed hawks is puzzling to many biologists, as these tend to be highly nocturnal and elusive by day, rarely leaving the confines of their burrow. At least 8 species of pocket gopher are included in the prey spectrum (not to mention 5 species of pocket mice). The northern pocket gopher ("Thomomys talpoides") is particularly often reported and, by frequency, even turns up as the third most often recorded prey species in 27 American dietary studies. Presumably, hunting of pocket gophers by red-tails, which has possibly never been witnessed, occurs in dim light at first dawn and last light of dusk when they luck upon a gopher out foraging.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: By far, the most important prey among rodents are squirrels, as they are almost fully diurnal. All told, nearly 50 species from the squirrel family have turned up as food. In particular, where they are distributed, ground squirrels are doubly attractive as a primary food source due to their ground dwelling habits, as red-tails prefer to attack prey that is terrestrial. There are also many disadvantages to ground squirrels as prey: they can escape quickly to the security of their burrows, they tend to be highly social and they are very effective and fast in response to alarm calls, and a good deal of species enter hibernation that in the coldest climates can range up to a 6 to 9-month period (although those in warmer climates with little to no snowy weather often have brief dormancy and no true hibernation). Nonetheless, red-tailed hawks are devoted predators of ground squirrels, especially catching incautious ones as they go out foraging (which more often than not are younger animals). A multi-year study conducted on San Joaquin Experimental Range in California, seemingly still the largest food study to date done for red-tailed hawks with 4031 items examined, showed that throughout the seasons the California ground squirrel ("Otospermophilus beecheyi") was the most significant prey, accounting for 60.8% of the breeding season diet and about 27.2% of the diet for hawks year-around. Because of the extremely high density of red-tailed hawks on this range, some pairs came to specialize on diverse alternate prey, which consisted variously of kangaroo rats, lizards, snakes or chipmunks. One pair apparently lessened competition by focusing on pocket gophers instead despite being near the center of ground squirrel activity. In Snake River NCA, the primary food of red-tailed hawks was the Townsend's ground squirrel ("Urocitellus townsendii"), which made up nearly 21% of the food in 382 prey items across several years despite sharp spikes and crashes of the ground squirrel population there. The same species was the main food of red-tailed hawks in southeastern Washington, making up 31.2% of 170 items. An even closer predatory relationship was reported in the Centennial valley of Montana and south-central Montana, where 45.4% of 194 prey items and 40.2% of 261 items, respectively, of the food of red-tails consisted of the Richardson's ground squirrel ("Urocitellus richardsonii"). Locally in Rochester, Alberta, Richardson's ground squirrel, estimated to average , were secondary in number to unidentified small rodents but red-tails in the region killed an estimated 22–60% of the area’s ground squirrel, a large dent in the squirrel’s population. Further east, ground squirrels are not so reliably distributed, but one study in southern Wisconsin, in one of several quite different dietary studies in that state, the thirteen-lined ground squirrel ("Ictidomys tridecemlineatus") was the main prey species, making up 29.7% of the diet (from a sample of 165).


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: In Kluane Lake, Yukon, Arctic ground squirrels ("Spermophilus parryii") were the main overall food for Harlan’s red-tailed hawks, making up 30.8% of a sample of 1074 prey items. When these ground squirrels enter their long hibernation, the breeding Harlan’s hawks migrate south for the winter. Nearly as important in Kluane Lake was the American red squirrel ("Tamiasciurus hudsonicus"), which constituted 29.8% of the above sample. Red squirrels are highly agile dwellers on dense spruce stands, which has caused biologists to ponder how the red-tailed hawks are able to routinely catch them. It is possible that the hawks catch them on the ground such as when squirrels are digging their caches, but theoretically the dark color of the Harlan’s hawks may allow them to more effectively ambush the squirrels within the forests locally. While American red squirrel turn up not infrequently as supplementary prey elsewhere in North America, other tree squirrels seem to be comparatively infrequently caught, at least during the summer breeding season. It is known that pairs of red-tailed hawks will cooperative hunt tree squirrels at times, probably mostly between late fall and early spring. Fox squirrels ("Sciurus niger"), the largest of North America’s tree squirrels at , are fairly regular supplemental prey but the lighter, presumably more agile eastern gray squirrel ("Sciurus carolinensis") appears to be seldom caught based on dietary studies. While adult marmot may be difficult for red-tailed hawks to catch, young marmots are readily taken in numbers after weaning, such as a high frequency of yellow-bellied marmot ("Marmota flaviventris") in Boulder, Colorado. Another grouping of squirrels but at the opposite end of the size spectrum for squirrels, the chipmunks are also mostly supplemental prey but are considered more easily caught than tree squirrels, considering that they are more habitual terrestrial foragers. In central Ohio, eastern chipmunks ("Tamias striatus"), the largest species of chipmunk at an average weight of , were actually the leading prey by number, making up 12.3% of a sample of 179 items.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Outside of rodents, the most important prey for North American red-tailed hawks is rabbits and hares, of which at least 13 species are included in their prey spectrum. By biomass and reproductive success within populations, these are certain to be their most significant food source (at least in North America). Adult "Sylvilagus" rabbits known to be hunted by red-tails can range from the brush rabbit ("Sylvilagus bachmani") to the Tres Marias rabbit ("Sylvilagus graysoni") at while all leporids hunted may range the pygmy rabbit ("Brachylagus idahoensis") to hares and jackrabbits potentially up twice the hawk’s own weight. While primarily crepuscular in peak activity, rabbits and hares often foraging both during day and night and so face almost constant predatory pressure from a diverse range of predators. Male red-tailed hawks or pairs which are talented rabbit hunters are likely have higher than average productivity due to the size and nutrition of the meal ensuring healthy, fast-growing offspring. Most widely reported are the cottontails, which the three most common North America varieties softly grading into mostly allopatric ranges, being largely segregated by habitat preferences where they overlap in distribution. Namely, in descending order of reportage were: the eastern cottontail ("Sylvilagus floridanus"), the second most widely reported prey species overall in North America and with maximum percentage known in a given study was 26.4% in Oklahoma (out of 958 prey items), the mountain cottontail ("Sylvilagus nuttallii"), maximum representation being 17.6% out of a sample of 478 in Kaibab Plateau, Arizona and the desert cottontail ("Sylvilagus audubonii"), maximum representation being 22.4% out of a sample of 326 in west-central Arizona. Black-tailed jackrabbits ("Lepus californicus") are even more intensely focused upon as a food source by the hawks found in the west, particularly the Great Basin. This species is likely the largest prey routinely hunted by red-tails, and the mean prey size where jackrabbits are primarily hunted is the highest known overall. When jackrabbit numbers crash, red-tailed hawk productivity tends to decline as well. In northern Utah, black-tailed jackrabbits made up 55.3% by number of a sample of 329. Elsewhere, they are usually somewhat secondary by number. Mean sizes of jackrabbits taken can range up to approximately , but probably quantitatively mostly juvenile and yearling jackrabbits are caught. Prime adult jackrabbits, with weights at times exceeding , are difficult and taken infrequently, short of by particularly large and aggressive female red-tails. Other even larger species are sometimes taken as prey such as the white-tailed jackrabbit ("Lepus townsendii"), but whether this includes healthy adults, as they average over , is unclear.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: In the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska, red-tails are fairly dependent on the snowshoe hare ("Lepus americanus"), falling somewhere behind the great horned owl and ahead of the northern goshawk in their regional reliance on this food source. The hunting preferences of red-tails who rely on snowshoe hares is variable. In Rochester, Alberta, 52% of snowshoe hares caught were adults, such prey estimated to average , and adults, in some years, were six times more often taken than juvenile hares, which averaged an estimated . 1.9–7.1% of adults in the regional population of Rochester were taken by red-tails, while only 0.3–0.8 of juvenile hares were taken by them. Despite their reliance on it, only 4% (against 53.4% of the biomass) of the food by frequency here was made up of hares. On the other hand, in Kluane Lake, Yukon, juvenile hares were taken roughly 11 times more often than adults, despite the larger size of adults here, averaging , and that the overall prey base was less diverse at this more northerly clime. In both Rochester and Kluane Lake, the number of snowshoe hares taken was considerably lower than numbers of ground squirrels taken. The differences of average characteristics of snowshoe hares that were hunted may be partially due to habitat (extent of bog openings to dense forest) or topography. Another member of the Lagomorpha order has been found in the diet, the much smaller American pika ("Ochotona princeps"), at , but is not known to be common prey.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: A diversity of mammals may be consumed opportunistically outside of the main food groups of rodents and leporids, but usually occur in low numbers. At least five species each are taken of shrews and moles, ranging in size from their smallest mammalian prey, the cinereus ("Sorex cinereus") and least shrews ("Cryptotis parva"), which both weigh about , to Townsend's mole ("Scapanus townsendii"), which weighs about . A respectable number of the eastern mole ("Scalopus aquaticus") were recorded in studies from Oklahoma and Kansas. Four species of bat have been recorded in their foods. The red-tailed hawks local to the large cave colonies of Mexican free-tailed bats ("Tadarida brasiliensis") in Texas can show surprising agility, some of the same hawks spending their early evening and early morning hours in flight patrolling the cave entrances in order to stoop suddenly on these flighted mammals. Larger miscellaneous mammalian prey are either usually taken as juveniles, like the nine-banded armadillo ("Dasypus novemcinctus"), or largely as carrion, like the Virginia opossum ("Didelphis virginiana"). Small carnivorans may be taken, usually consisting of much smaller mustelids, like the long-tailed weasel ("Neogale frenata"), which was surprisingly widely taken as a supplemental prey species. Adult ringtails ("Bassariscus astutus"), which are about the same weight as a red-tailed hawk at , are taken as prey occasionally. Larger carnivoran remains are sometimes found amongst their foods, but most are likely taken as juveniles or smaller range adults, or otherwise consumed only as carrion. Some of the relatively larger carnivorans red-tailed hawks have been known to eat have included red fox (" Vulpes vulpes"), kit fox ("Vulpes macrotis"), white-nosed coati ("Nasua narica"), raccoon ("Procyon lotor"), striped skunk ("Mephitis mephitis") and domestic cats ("Felis catus"). A red-tailed hawk was filmed killing a small cat in a city area. Many of these medium-sized carnivorans are probably visited as roadkill, especially during the sparser winter months, but carrion has turned up more widely than previously thought. Some nests have been found (to the occasional "shock" of researchers) with body parts from large domestic stock like sheep ("Ovis aries"), pigs ("Sus domesticus"), horses ("Equus caballus ") and cattle ("Bos taurus") (not to mention wild varieties like deer), which red-tails must visit when freshly dead out on pastures and take a couple talonfuls of meat. In one instance, a red-tailed hawk was observed to kill a small but seemingly healthy lamb. These are born heavier than most red-tails at but in this case, the hawk was scared away before it could consume its kill by the rifle fire of the shepherd who witnessed the instance.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Like most (but not all) "Buteo" hawks, red-tailed hawks do not primarily hunt birds in most areas, but can take them fairly often whenever they opportune upon some that are vulnerable. Birds are, by far, the most diverse class in the red-tailed hawk’s prey spectrum, with well over 200 species known in their foods. In most circumstances where birds become the main food of red-tailed hawks, it is in response to ample local populations of galliforms. As these are meaty, mostly terrestrial birds which usually run rather than fly from danger (although all wild species in North America are capable of flight), galliforms are ideal avian prey for red-tails. Some 23 species of galliforms are known to be taken by red-tailed hawks, about a third of these being species introduced by humans. Native quails of all five North American species may expect occasional losses. All 12 species of grouse native to North America are also occasionally included in their prey spectrum. In the state of Wisconsin, two large studies, from Waupun and Green County, found the main prey species to be the ring-necked pheasant ("Phasianus colchicus"), making up 22.7% of a sample of 176 and 33.8% of a sample of 139, respectively. With a body mass averaging , adult pheasants are among the largest meals that male red-tails are likely to deliver short of adult rabbits and hares and therefore these nests tend to be relatively productive. Despite being not native to North America, pheasants usually live in a wild state. Chickens ("Gallus gallus domesticus") are also taken throughout North America, with all Wisconsin studies also found large numbers of them, making up as much as 14.4% of the diet. Many studies reflect that free-ranging chickens are vulnerable to red-tailed hawks although somewhat lesser numbers are taken by them overall in comparison to nocturnal predators (i.e. owls and foxes) and goshawks. In Rochester, Alberta, fairly large numbers of ruffed grouse ("Bonasa umbellus") were taken but relatively more juveniles were taken of this species than the two other main contributors to biomass here, snowshoe hare and Townsend’s ground squirrel, as they are fairly independent early on and more readily available. Here the adult grouse was estimated to average against the average juvenile which in mid-summer averaged .


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Beyond galliforms, three other quite different families of birds make the most significant contributions to the red-tailed hawk’s avian diet. None of these three families are known as particularly skilled or swift fliers, but are generally small enough that they would generally easily be more nimble in flight. One of these are the woodpeckers, if only for one species, the northern flicker ("Colaptes auratus"), which was the best represented bird species in the diet in 27 North American studies and was even the fourth most often detected prey species of all. Woodpeckers are often a favorite in the diet of large raptors as their relatively slow, undulating flight makes these relatively easy targets. The flicker in particular is a highly numerous species that has similar habitat preferences to red-tailed hawks, preferring fragmented landscapes with trees and openings or parkland-type wooded mosaics, and often forage on the ground for ants, which may make them even more susceptible. Varied other woodpecker species may turn up in their foods, from the smallest to the largest extant in North America, but are much more infrequently detected in dietary studies. Another family relatively often selected prey family are corvids, which despite their relatively large size, formidable mobbing abilities and intelligence are also slower than average fliers for passerines. 14 species of corvid are known to fall prey to red-tailed hawks. In the Kaibab Plateau, the Steller's jay ("Cyanocitta stelleri") were the fourth most identified prey species (10.3% of the diet). American crows are also regularly detected supplemental prey in several areas. Even the huge common raven ("Corvus corax"), at at least as large as red-tailed hawk itself, may fall prey to red-tails, albeit very infrequently and only in a well-staged ambush. One of the most surprising heavy contributors are the icterids, despite their slightly smaller size and tendency to travel in large, wary flocks, 12 species are known to be hunted. One species pair, the meadowlarks, are most often selected as they do not flock in the same ways as many other icterids and often come to the ground, throughout their life history, rarely leaving about shrub-height. The western meadowlark ("Sturnella neglecta"), in particular, was the third most often detected bird prey species in North America. Red-winged blackbirds ("Agelaius phoeniceus") which are probably too small, at an average weight of , and fast for a red-tailed hawk to ever chase on the wing (and do travel in huge flocks, especially in winter) are nonetheless also quite often found in their diet, representing up to 8% of the local diet for red-tails. It is possible that males, which are generally bold and often select lofty perches from which to display, are most regularly ambushed. One bird species that often flocks with red-winged blackbirds in winter is even better represented in the red-tail’s diet, the non-native European starling ("Sturnus vulgaris"), being the second most numerous avian prey species and seventh overall in North America. Although perhaps most vulnerable when caught unaware while calling atonally on a perch, a few starlings (or various blackbirds) may be caught by red-tails which test the agile, twisting murmurations of birds by flying conspicuously towards the flock, to intentionally disturb them and possibly detect lagging, injured individual birds that can be caught unlike healthy birds. However, this behavior has been implied rather than verified.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Over 50 passerine species from various other families beyond corvids, icterids and starlings are included in the red-tailed hawks' prey spectrum but are caught so infrequently as to generally not warrant individual mention. Non-passerine prey taken infrequently may include but are not limited to pigeons and doves, cuckoos, nightjars, kingfishers and parrots. However, of some interest, is the extreme size range of birds that may be preyed upon. Red-tailed hawks in Caribbean islands seem to catch small birds more frequently due to the paucity of vertebrate prey diversity here. Birds as small as the elfin woods warbler ("Setophaga angelae") and the bananaquit ("Coereba flaveola") may turn up not infrequently as food. How red-tails can catch prey this small and nimble is unclear (perhaps mostly the even smaller nestlings or fledglings are depredated). In California, most avian prey was stated to be between the size of a starling and a quail. Numerous water birds may be preyed upon including at least 22 species of shorebirds, at least 17 species of waterfowl, at least 8 species of heron and egrets and at least 8 species of rails, plus a smaller diversity of grebes, shearwaters and ibises. These may range to as small as the tiny, mysterious and "mouse-like" black rail ("Laterallus jamaicensis"), weighing an average of , and snowy plover ("Charadrius nivosus"), weighing an average of (how they catch adults of this prey is not known), to some gulls, ducks and geese as heavy or heavier than a red-tailed hawk itself.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: How large of a duck that red-tailed hawks can capture may be variable. In one instance, a red-tailed hawk failed to kill a healthy drake red-breasted merganser ("Mergus serrator"), with this duck estimated to weigh , later the same red-tail was able to dispatch a malnourished red-necked grebe ("Podiceps grisegena") (a species usually about as heavy as the merganser), weighing an estimated . However, in interior Alaska, locally red-tailed hawks have become habitual predators of adult ducks, ranging from green-winged teal ("Anas carolinensis") to mallard ("Anas platyrhynchos"). Even larger, occasionally adult Ross's goose ("Chen rossii"), weighing on average , have been killed as well. Also, a non-native Egyptian goose ("Alopochen aegyptiaca"), in which adults average , was killed by a red-tail in Texas. There are several known instances of predation on adult greater sage grouse ("Centrocercus urophasianus"), although mainly females are reported taken, these averaging depending on region. Some adult male sage grouse may have been attacked but, as these average from , this needs verification. Even larger, in at least once case a grown hatch-year bird was caught of the rare, non-native Himalayan snowcock ("Tetraogallus himalayensis"), this species averaging in adults. Red-tailed hawks are a threat to the poults typically of the wild turkey ("Meleagris gallopavo"). However, in one instance, an immature red-tail was observed trying to attack an adult female turkey, which would weigh about (on average). However this red-tail was unable to overpower the turkey hen. Additionally, young domestic turkeys, weighing up to at least or more, have been killed by red-tailed hawks. Other than wild turkeys, other larger birds occasionally lose young to red-tails such as trumpeter swans ("Cygnus buccinator"), sandhill cranes ("Grus canadensis") and great blue herons ("Ardea herodias").


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Early reports claimed relatively little predation of reptiles by red-tailed hawks but these were regionally biased towards the east coast and the upper Midwest of the United States. However, locally the predation on reptiles can be regionally quite heavy and they may become the primary prey where large, stable numbers of rodents and leporids are not to be found reliably. Nearly 80 species of reptilian prey have been recorded in the diet at this point. Most predation is on snakes, with more than 40 species known in the prey spectrum. The most often found reptilian species in the diet (and sixth overall in 27 North American dietary studies) was the gopher snake ("Pituophis catenifer"). Red-tails are efficient predators of these large snakes, which average about in adults, although they also take many small and young gopher snakes. Along the Columbia River in Washington, large colubrid snakes were found to be the primary prey, with the eastern racer ("Coluber constrictor"), which averages about in mature adults, the most often recorded at 21.3% of 150 prey items, followed by the gopher snake at 18%. This riverine region lacks ground squirrels and has low numbers of leporids. 43.2% of the overall diet here was made up of reptiles, while mammals, made up 40.6%. In the Snake River NCA, the gopher snake was the second most regularly recorded (16.2% of 382 items) prey species over the course of the years, and did not appear to be subject to the extreme population fluctuations of mammalian prey here. Good numbers of smaller colubrids can be taken as well, especially garter snakes. Red-tailed hawks may engage in avoidance behavior to some extent with regard to venomous snakes. For example, on the San Joaquin Experimental Range in California, they were recorded taking 225 gopher snakes against 83 western rattlesnakes ("Crotalus oreganus"). Based on surveys, however, the rattlesnakes were five times more abundant on the range than the gopher snakes. Nonetheless, at least 15 venomous snakes have been recorded in the red-tailed hawk’s diet. The smallest known snake known to be hunted by red-tailed hawks is the redbelly snake ("Storeria occipitomaculata"). Red-tailed hawks have been seen flying off with snake prey that may exceed in length in some cases. One red-tail was photographed killing a "fairly large" eastern diamondback rattlesnake ("Crotalus adamanteus"), this being North America’s heaviest snake and the heaviest venomous snake in the Americas at a large mature size of about . For the eastern indigo snakes ("Drymarchon couperi"), North America’s longest native snake, usually young and small ones are at risk.


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: In North America, fewer lizards are typically recorded in the foods of red-tailed hawk than are snakes, probably because snakes are considerably better adapted to cooler, seasonal weather, with an extensive diversity of lizards found only in the southernmost reaches of the contiguous United States. A fair number of lizards were recorded in the diet in southern California and red-tails can be counted among the primary predatory threats to largish lizards in the United States such as the common chuckawalla ("Sauromalus ater"). However, the red-tailed hawks ranging into the neotropics regularly take numerous species of lizards. This is especially true of hawks living on islands which are not naturally colonized by small mammals. Insular red-tails commonly pluck up mostly tiny anoles, that may average only in adult mass, depending on species. Not all tropical lizards taken by red-tailed hawks are so dainty and some are easily as large as most birds and reptiles taken elsewhere such as adults of the San Esteban chuckwalla ("Sauromalus varius") and even those as large as Cape spinytail iguanas ("Ctenosaura hemilopha") and green iguanas ("Iguana iguana") (though it is not clearly noted whether they can take healthy adults iguanas or not). Beyond snakes and lizards, there are a few cases of red-tailed hawks preying on baby or juvenile turtles, i.e. the gopher tortoise ("Gopherus polyphemus"), the desert tortoise ("Gopherus agassizii") and the common snapping turtle ("Chelydra serpentina").


title: Red-tailed hawk

text: Records of predation on amphibians is fairly infrequent. It is thought that such prey may be slightly underrepresented, as they are often consumed whole and may not leave a trace in pellets. Their fine bones may dissolve upon consumption. So far as is known, North American red-tailed hawks have preyed upon 9 species of amphibian, four of which are toads. Known amphibian prey has ranged to as small as the red-backed salamander ("Plethodon cinereus"), the smallest known vertebrate prey for red-tailed hawks, to the American bullfrog ("Lithobates catesbeianus"). Invertebrates, mostly represented by insects like beetles and crickets, are better represented in the stomach contents of red-tailed hawks than their pellets or prey remains. It is possible some invertebrate prey is ingested incidentally, as in other various birds of prey, they can in some cases be actually from the stomachs of birds eaten by the raptor. However, some red-tails, especially immatures early in their hunting efforts, often do spend much of the day on the ground grabbing terrestrial insects and spiders. The red-tailed hawks of Puerto Rico frequently consume Puerto Rican freshwater crabs ("Epilobocera sinuatifrons"), which average . Other island populations, such as those on Socorro island, also feed often on terrestrial crabs, here often blunting their claws while catching them. Fish are the rarest class of prey based on dietary studies. Among the rare instances of them capturing fish have included captures of wild channel catfish ("Ictalurus punctatus"), non-native common carp ("Cyprinus carpio") and ornamental koi ("Cyprinus rubrofuscus") as well some hawks that were seen scavenging on dead chum salmon ("Oncorhynchus keta").