Migrant type: Resident or short-distance migrant

This is the most common hawk found in North America and one of the most well known. These raptors can be seen soaring over open fields and perching on top of telephone poles and fence posts. In most of Montana, Red-tailed hawks can be found year-round but based on food availability and temperatures, the Red-tails seen in the summer are most likely different individuals from those seen in the winter.

The Red-tailed hawks breeding in Alaska and Canada in the summer will fly south for a few months in the winter. The Red-tails throughout the rest of the continent will often stay in their breeding grounds and share their space with the northern migrators.

These birds belong to the genus, buteo and therefore have wide, short, fan-like tails and broad rounded wing. They will likely use thermals to migrate over long distances. Thermals are warm pockets of air that originate from the sun heating the surface of the Earth. The warm air rises in a circular motion in a column and allows raptors to ascend quickly to thousands of fee with little effort.

It can be tricky to ID Red-tailed hawks sometimes due to them having 13 different sub species with various light and dark morphs.