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The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird found in United States and Canada. Open country with perches, from deserts to farms. It eats small mammals and birds, reptiles and frogs and insects and other small invertebrates. The IUCN Red List lists it as Least Concern.

🏡 Where the Red-tailed Hawk lives

Open country with perches, from deserts to farms.

🍽️ What it eats

• 🐭 Mammals & birds60%
• 🦎 Reptiles & frogs30%
• 🐛 Insects & bugs10%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

Hear the Red-tailed Hawk

Recorded by Rory Nefdt (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC1033919. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Red-tailed Hawk

Where does the Red-tailed Hawk live?

The Red-tailed Hawk lives in United States and Canada. Open country with perches, from deserts to farms.

What does the Red-tailed Hawk eat?

small mammals and birds (about 60%), reptiles and frogs (about 30%), insects and other small invertebrates (about 10%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Red-tailed Hawk endangered?

There are plenty of these birds. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

More birds from North America

• ʻAkiapolaʻau
• Scissor-tailed hummingbird
• Grenada dove
• Brown-capped rosy finch
• Short-crested coquette
• Hispaniolan crossbill

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.