The Red-tailed Hawk is a large bird of prey which breeds from western Alaska and northern Canada to Panama and the West Indies. Males are typically smaller than females. Red-tailed Hawks have extremely good eyesight and can often be seen trees watching for the slightest movement in the grass below.
A famous Red-tailed Hawk is Pale Male, who live in New York's Central Park.
The Red-tailed Hawk is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Earlier this week, the White House reported the sighting of a new guest on their famous grounds -- a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. Red-tailed Hawks are abundant across the United States, and have adapted well to developed areas. Pale Male, New York City's famous hawk, is an... Read more »
