Red Tail Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis

The Red-tailed Hawk is a large hawk, and overall, its body is heavier than other hawks. When viewed from above it looks dark brown or reddish in color. However, like most hawks, it is often seen while flying. From below this hawk is light brown or rusty colored with a creamy white chest. It has a dark obvious belly band. This hawk's most notable feature is its uniformly reddish colored tail which has a narrow dark band and a light colored tip. It is this tail of the adult bird that gives the Red-tailed Hawk its name. A juvenile's tail is not as striking. It is often white at the base, brownish in color, and finely barred. There are two color phases of the Red-tailed: the brown phase and the pale white-tailed phase. In both phases, this hawk's plumage is extremely variable in color.

Because this hawk usually hunts in open country it can sometimes be seen perching atop telephone poles, haystacks, or fence posts. Often this raptor will sit for hours and then suddenly spring into the air and glide off to surprise its prey. A Red-tailed Hawk will prey on rabbits, lizards, squirrels and other rodents. In fact, it plays an important part in controlling rodent populations, and because of this, it can be a great ally to farmers.

When this hawk is flying directly at an observer, it gives the impression that it has a pair of "headlights" on its wings. This illusion is due to a light colored wrist area on each of the hawk's wings.

Cooper's Hawk
Accipiter cooperii

The Cooper's Hawk is a medium sized, long, lean-body similar but larger than the Sharp-shinned Hawk. The adult Cooper's Hawk is slate blue above with a dark crown and lighter back. Its under parts are white with heavy rufous colored barring. This hawk has a distinctly rounded tail that ends with a wide white terminal band. Depending upon age, its eyes are yellowish-orange to red in color. Juveniles have yellowish eyes. These younger hawks are brown above with white and brown streaking below. Compared to the Sharp-shinned Hawk this hawk's wing beats are stiffer with a flap-flap-glide pattern. In flight, the extremely squarish head of this hawk protrudes well beyond its wings (almost like a turtle extending its head from its shell).

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus

The Sharp-shinned Hawk is has the smallest body in North America. In coloring, this raptor looks almost identical to the larger Cooper's Hawk. However, the Sharp-shinned Hawk has a narrower box-like tail that is often notched, and it has a stockier body with slightly shorter wings. Also this raptor's head is much smaller then the Cooper's Hawk, and unlike the Cooper's, its head does not protrude past its wrists in flight. Another difference between these two raptors is the fact that in flight the Sharp-shinned is much quicker. This raptor makes a rapid series of wing beats punctuated by a glide. Finally, size is another confusing factor between these two hawks. Just like other raptors, the female Sharp-shinned Hawk is larger than the male, but the female is also about the same size as the male Cooper's Hawk. Because of this the female Sharp-shinned Hawk is sometimes mistaken for a male Cooper's Hawk!