Distribution

Breeding Range

Breeds throughout North America from s.-coastal and central Alaska southward to the Baja Peninsula (Figure 1). Found in a great variety of habitats throughout the range, but typically associated with open areas interspersed with woodland. Generally absent from large expanses of treeless terrain (e.g., central sections of the Great Plains and Great Basin, tundra, non-forested wetlands) and dense forest. Patchily distributed in hot deserts where elevated perch and nest sites are available.

Details for selected regions, as follows:

Alaska. From w. and central Alaska to se. Alaska (American Ornithologists' Union 1998a American Ornithologists' Union (1998). Check-list of North American Birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC, USA. Close , Armstrong 1995a Armstrong, R. H. (1995). Guide to the Birds of Alaska. 4th edition. Alaska Northwest Books, Seattle, WA, USA. Close ).

Canada. From the Yukon Territory south to British Columbia (BCBBA 2008 BCBBA. British Columbia Breeding Bird Atlas (2008). Available from http://www.birdatlas.bc.ca/english/index.jsp. Close ), east to Saskatchewan (Smith 1996b Smith, A. R. (1996). Atlas of Saskatchewan Birds. Saskatchewan Natural History Society Special Publications 22, Regina, SK, Canada. Close ), Ontario, s. Quebec, s. Labrador and s. Nova Scotia (Kirk and Hyslop 1998 Kirk, D. A., and C. Hyslop (1998). Population status and recent trends in Canadian raptors; A review. Biological Conservation 83: 91–118. Close , Sauer et al. 2008a Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon (2008). The North American Breeding Bird Survey results and analysis 1966–2007. Version 5.15.2008a. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USA. Close , Cadman et al. 2007a Cadman, M. D., D. A. Sutherland, G. G. Beck, D. Lepage, and A. R. Couturier (Editors) (2007). Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario 2001–2005. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto, ON, Canada. Close ).

West Coast US. Common to abundant in western portions of Washington and Oregon, sparse in the Cascade Mtns., fairly common on the n. Pacific coast. Year-round resident throughout Washington and Oregon (Seattle Audubon Society 2008 Society, Seattle Audubon. Bird Web (2008). Available from http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id. Close ). Common to abundant throughout California (Unitt 2004c Unitt, P. (2004). San Diego County Bird Atlas. Volume 39. Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History. San Diego Natural History Museum/Ibis Publishing, San Diego, CA, USA. Close , Contra Costa County BBA 2008 BBA, Contra Costa County. Contra Costa County Breeding Bird Atlas 1998-2002 (2008). Available from http:/www.flyingemu.com/ccosta/rtha.html. Close , San Fransisco Field Ornithologists 2003 Ornithologists, San Fransisco Field. San Fransisco Breeding Bird Atlas (2003). Available from http://www.sffo.org/Breeding%20Ecology/San%20Fransisco%20Breeding%20Bird%20Atlas.pdf. Close ).

Rocky Mountains. Breeds throughout the Rocky Mountain Region (Breeding Bird Survey 2008 Survey, Breeding Bird. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) (2008). Available from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3370id.html. Close ). Common year-round resident in this region; primarily a summer resident at higher elevations and the northern third of Montana (Breeding Bird Survey 2008 Survey, Breeding Bird. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) (2008). Available from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3370id.html. Close , Andrews and Righter 1992 Andrews, P., and R. Righter (1992). Colorado Birds. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO, USA. Close , Montana National Heritage Program 2008 Program, Montana National Heritage. Animal Field Guide: Red-tailed Hawk. MNHP (2008). Available from http://fwp.mt.gov/fieldguide/mediaDisplay.aspx?id. Close )

Central Plain. Common and widely distributed throughout the central plains in more open areas (Breeding Bird Survey 2008 Survey, Breeding Bird. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) (2008). Available from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3370id.html. Close , Peterjohn and Rice 1991 Peterjohn, B. G., and D. L. Rice (1991). The Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Columbus, OH, USA. Close ). Only scattered records in Mississippi lowlands and where landscapes approach more dense forest habitat (Jacobs and Wilson 1997 Jacobs, B., and J. D. Wilson (1997). Missouri Breeding Bird Atlas 1986–1992. Missouri Department of Conservation Natural History Series no. 6. Jefferson City, MO, USA. Close , Missouri Department of Conservation 2008 Conservation, Missouri Department of. Missouri Breeding Bird Atlas 1986-1992. MDC (2008). Available from http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/birds/birdatlas/index.htm. Close ). Widely distributed in South Dakota, less common in northwest (Peterson 1995 Peterson, R. A. (1995). The South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas. South Dakota Ornithologists' Union, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND, USA. Close ).

Northeast US. Broadly distributed and fairly common, sparse in upstate NY (esp. Adirondacks) and Maine (NYBBA, Breeding Bird Survey 2008 Survey, Breeding Bird. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) (2008). Available from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3370id.html. Close , http://www.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/bba/bbaMaps.cfm?bndcode=RTHA&year=2000).

Southeast US. South Texas, Gulf Coast to Florida (Breeding Bird Survey 2008 Survey, Breeding Bird. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) (2008). Available from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i3370id.html. Close Benson and Arnold 2001 Benson, K. L. P., and K. A. Arnold (2001). The Texas Breeding Bird Atlas. Texas A&M University System, College Station and Corpus Christi, TX, USA. Close ). A familiar bird throughout Florida except southern tip and in the Keys (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 2003 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (2003). Florida's Breeding Bird Atlas: A Collaborative Study of Florida's Birdlife. Close ).

Middle America. Sinaloa, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas; also Tres Marias and Socorro islands (Walter 1990 Walter, H. S. (1990). Small viable population - the Red-tailed Hawk of Socorro Island. Conservation Biology 4 (4):441-443. Close , Howell and Webb 1995). Also from Mexico south through the highlands of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989, Howell and Webb 1995).

Caribbean. Puerto Rico, n. Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and n. Lesser Antilles (Raffaele et al. 2003 Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith and J. Raffaele. (2003). Birds of the West Indies. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Close ).

See also Systematics: subspecies.

Winter Range

From s. Canada south throughout breeding range in U.S., Mexico, and into the lowlands of Central America (American Ornithologists' Union 1998a American Ornithologists' Union (1998). Check-list of North American Birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC, USA. Close ; Fig. 1). Historically reported wintering south to Costa Rica and w. Panama (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989 Ridgely, R. S., and J. Gwynne (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Panama, with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. 2nd Edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), recently reported as far south as Venezuela and Colombia (Hilty 1999 Hilty, S. L. (1999). Three bird species new to Venezuela and notes on the behaviour and distribution of other poorly known species. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 119 (4):220-235. Close , Castaño R and Colorado Z 2002 Castaño R, A. M. and G. J. Colorado Z. (2002). First records of red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis in Colombia. Cotinga 18:102. Close ). In northern portion of winter range, winters as far north as s. Canada, primarily British Columbia and Ontario, uncommon in Quebec and Nova Scotia, and rare in other southern provinces (National Audubon Society 2009c Society, National Audubon. The Chirstimas Bird Count Historical Results (2009c). Available from http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc. Close ).

In U.S. common along the Pacific coast, uncommon to rare in Great Basin and n. Rockies, fairly common to common in s. Rockies, common in midwest, se., and ne. U.S., uncommon to rare in n. New England (National Audubon Society 2009c Society, National Audubon. The Chirstimas Bird Count Historical Results (2009c). Available from http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc. Close ). An area extending from e. Washington into se. Idaho and n. Utah has some of the highest recorded densities of wintering Red-tails (Ferguson 2004 Ferguson, H. L. (2004). Relative abundance and diversity of winter raptors in Spokane county, eastern Washington. Journal of Raptor Research 38 (2):181-186. Close ). Year-round resident populations across the U.S. are generally augmented by northern latitude breeders in winter (Eakle et al. 1996 Eakle, W. L., E. L. Smith, S. W. Hoffman, D. W. Stahlecker and R. B. Duncan. (1996). Results of a raptor survey in southwestern New Mexico. Journal of Raptor Research 30 (4):183-188. Close , Knight et al. 1999 Knight, R. L., R. J. Camp, W. I. Boarman and H. A. L. Knight. (1999). Predatory bird populations in the east Mojave Desert, California. Great Basin Naturalist 59 (4):331-338. Close ). Winter populations fluctuate locally in response to the density and availability of prey (Gietzen et al. 1997 Gietzen, R. A., S. R. Jones and R. J. McKee. (1997). Hawks, eagles, and prairie dogs: population trends of wintering raptors in Boulder County, 1983-1996. Journal of the Colorado Field Ornithologists 31 (2):75-89. Close , Knight et al. 1999 Knight, R. L., R. J. Camp, W. I. Boarman and H. A. L. Knight. (1999). Predatory bird populations in the east Mojave Desert, California. Great Basin Naturalist 59 (4):331-338. Close ). In Texas, distribution of Red-tailed Hawks shifts latituduinally in response to El Nino and La Nina events (Kim et al. 2008 Kim, D. H., R. D. Slack and F. Chavez-Ramirez. (2008). Impacts of El Niño-Southern Oscillation events on the distribution of wintering raptors. Journal of Wildlife Management 72 (1):231-239. Close ).

Extralimital Records

Reported from the Florida Keys, Bermuda, Newfoundland (Bent 1937b Bent, A. C. (1937). Life histories of North American birds of prey, Part 1. U.S. National Museum Bulletin no. 167. Close , Palmer 1988f Palmer, R. S. (1988f). "Red-tailed Hawk." In Handbook of North American birds, Vol. 5, Part 2, 96-134. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press. Close , American Ornithologists' Union 1998a American Ornithologists' Union (1998). Check-list of North American Birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC, USA. Close , National Audubon Society 2009c Society, National Audubon. The Chirstimas Bird Count Historical Results (2009c). Available from http://www.audubon.org/bird/cbc. Close ).

Range expanded through e. North America in response to forest clearing for agriculture and urban growth. Has largely replaced Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) in partially cleared bottomland forest through much of the e. and midwestern U.S. (e.g., Bent 1937b Bent, A. C. (1937). Life histories of North American birds of prey, Part 1. U.S. National Museum Bulletin no. 167. Close , Petersen 1979a Petersen, L. (1979a). Ecology of Great Horned Owls and Red-tailed Hawks in southeastern Wisconsin. Wis. Dep. Nat. Resour. Tech. Bull. 111. Close , Gehring 2003 Gehring, L. J. (2003). The ecology of Red-tailed Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks in forested landscapes and in landscapes fragmented by agriculture. Ph.D. diss., Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN. Close ). Has also extended breeding range, or at least become more common, through the n. Great Plains of North America during the last 100 yr -- a result of increased tree growth in formerly treeless grasslands (Houston and Bechard 1983 Houston, C. S. and M. J. Bechard. (1983). Red-tailed Hawk distribution, Saskatchewan. Blue Jay 41:99-109. Close ).