The red-tailed hawk is a member of the order Falconiformes, which includes all the diurnal birds of prey. This order includes falcons, hawks, eagles, ospreys, kestrels, vultures, kites, condors, and buzzards.
Raptors and owls have excellent binocular vision. However, their eyes are too big to move around in their sockets.
The red-tailed hawk is one of the largest of the hawk family (family Accipitridae), as well as the most common hawk in North America.
As with most raptors, the female is larger than the male, with a wingspan up to 50 inches, length of up to 25 inches, and weighing about 3 lbs. (adult size). The hawk's wings are broad and round, and the flight is slow.
The upper side of the male's tail is brick-red; hence the name. The hawk's diet includes mice, squirrels, gophers, prairie dogs, snakes, and sometimes insects.
The female lays 2-3 white eggs, splashed with brownish purple. The chicks are helpless when hatched (altricial), as with most raptors.
Adult red-tails are mostly brown, mottled with white or gray, with the underparts somewhat lighter and streaked with brown.
Source: Album of North American Birds, by Vera Dugdale. © 1967 by Rand McNally & Co.
For more information on the red-tailed hawk, I refer you to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey and their page on red-tails.
Or, of course, you could go back home...
