This is the most numerous and widespread hawk on our continent, found from Washington state to Florida and everywhere in between (except North Dakota). And they hunt over open fields, in slow, wheeling flights, sometimes even helicoptering in place as they watch for prey below.
They're the quintessential highways hawks, perching on top of freeway lighting to watch for rodents in the ditches. Red-tailed hawks also are astoundingly beautiful, and they're not at all difficult to see. Why would I want these hawks living nearby? Consider that they eat squirrels and rabbits, in addition to a diet heavy on small rodents. This wasn't a faint hope because red-tails have nested in my neighborhood for the past several years, once right in someone's front yard tree. The two hawks perched together for many minutes in the oak, looking for all the world like a mated pair, leading me to hope that they'd soon start building a nest nearby.
On a warm and sunny winter day as I walked through a local park, it seemed things couldn't get any better, and then, suddenly, they did: A handsome red-tailed hawk flapped low over my head and landed in a tall oak, followed soon after by a second red-tail.
