Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California, February and December 2019 and September 2021.

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis. Photograph taken within the greater Bahía de los Ángeles area, Baja California, October 2015. Photograph courtesy of George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles. Identification courtesy of Mary & George Flicker, Bahía de los Ángeles.

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, Leucistic Phase. Photograph taken in the greater Alamos area, Alamos, Sonora, February. Photograph and  identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

A member of the Accipitridae Family of eagles and hawks. Large in stature with broad rounded wings and a short wide tail. A common resident of northern Mexico and extends southward in the mountainous regions but is absent from the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and south of Mazatlán along the Pacific Coast. From a conservation perspective the Red-tailed Hawk is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Found in open country perched on fence posts, telephone poles and in trees. Consumes a wide variety of prey including amphibians, crustaceans, insects, and small mammals.