Regal Looking Red-Tailed Hawk - Buteo Jamaicensis Stock Photography

The red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America. The bird is sometimes also referred to as the red-tail for short, when the meaning is clear in context. The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes, including deserts, grasslands (from small meadows to the treed fringes of more extensive prairies), coniferous and deciduous forests, agricultural fields, and urban areas. The diet of red-tailed hawks is highly variable and reflects their status as opportunistic generalists, but in North America, they are most often predators of small mammals such as rodents of an immense diversity of families and species. Prey that is terrestrial and at least partially diurnal is preferred, so types such as ground squirrels are preferred where they naturally occur.