Red-tailed Hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

Summary 7

The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies, and is one of the most common buteos in North America. Red-tailed Hawks can acclimate to all the biomes within their range....

Behaviour 8

Adult red-tailed hawks make what is called a horse scream, "kee-eeee-arrr." It is often described as sounding like a steam whistle. The length and pitch of this call varies with the age, gender, and geographic region of the individual red-tailed hawk.

Young red-tailed hawks communicate with their parents by making soft, low "peep"-ing sounds. As they get older, they sounds they make deepen in tone, and are usually sounds of hunger.

Red-tailed hawks also communicate through body language. In an aggressive posture, the body and head of the  red-tailed hawk are held upright and its feathers are standing up. In submission, the hawk's head is lower to the ground and the feathers are smooth. Red-tailed hawks also display many aerial behaviors. In the talon-drop, during courtship, they swoop down trying to touch one another with their talons. Undulating-flight is an up and down movement that is mainly used in territorial display. Finally, in the dive-display the bird performs a steep dive. This is also a territorial display.

Red-tailed hawks have extraordinarily keen vision, which allows them to detect prey movements at great distances.

Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) sarbhloh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/29452402@N07/2939911664
  2. (c) Rhys A., some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Buteo_jamaicensis_-near_Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania%2C_USA_-eating_rabbit-8_%281%29.jpg
  3. (c) Rhys A., some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Buteo_jamaicensis_-near_Philadelphia%2C_Pennsylvania%2C_USA_-eating_rabbit-8.jpg
  4. (c) Mark Bohn of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Buteo_jamaicensis_-John_Heinz_National_Wildlife_Refuge_at_Tinicum%2C_Pennsylvania%2C_USA-8.jpg
  5. (c) LI Refugee, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5217/5399895434_ab6d12d728.jpg
  6. (c) Brocken Inaglory, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Juvenile_red-tailed_hawk_Buteo_jamaicensis.jpg
  7. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buteo_jamaicensis
  8. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31381696

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