Is the Red-tailed Hawk the scream used for Bald Eagles in films?

Generally, yes. The rasping, descending scream most often heard on screen is a Red-tailed Hawk rather than an eagle. A real Bald Eagle's voice is a series of thin, giggling chatter notes that sounds surprisingly weak for so large a bird.

How can I identify a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk?

Start with the tail: a young bird's tail is brown with narrow dark bars instead of red. Then confirm the broad band of dark streaks across the belly, check that the flight feathers are clean and unbarred, and note that the eye is pale rather than dark.

Do Red-tailed Hawks take chickens or pets?

Rodents, rabbits and snakes form the bulk of the diet, and most birds are far too small to tackle anything larger. Free-ranging poultry and very small pets are occasionally taken, and the usual precaution is a covered run rather than open ground.

Why do I seem to see Red-tailed Hawks only in winter?

The birds are present all year. Winter simply brings northern breeders south, strips the leaves from the trees, and pushes birds onto conspicuous roadside and field-edge perches, so they are much easier to notice than in midsummer.

No. 001

I · Raptors

Red-tailed Hawk

Buteo jamaicensis

红尾𫛭

Scientific name: Buteo jamaicensis
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Length: 45–65 cm
Wingspan: 110–140 cm
Habitat: open country, woodland edges, deserts
Range: North America
Diet: small mammals, birds, reptiles

The Red-tailed Hawk is the broad-winged hawk most North Americans already know without having a name for it: the bird on the roadside pole, the slow circle over a hayfield, and the rasping scream that films keep dubbing over Bald Eagles.

Identification

A broad-chested, broad-winged buteo, 45–65 cm long on a 110–140 cm span. Adults are dark brown above and creamy below, with a band of dark streaks across the belly that reads as a horseshoe from in front, and a warm brick-red tail that lights up when the bird banks. The most dependable mark at long range is a dark patch on the leading edge of each underwing near the shoulder — it survives on both the pale and the chocolate-brown morphs and is the fastest way to rule out other soaring hawks.

Most hunting is done from a perch: a utility pole, a dead cottonwood, a highway sign, from which the bird drops onto voles, ground squirrels, rabbits and snakes. It also rides thermals in slow, flat-winged circles over fields and roadsides. Pairs frequently inherit the same stick nest in a tall tree, on a cliff ledge or on a building cornice for years, adding material each spring until the structure becomes a bulky platform. The territorial call is the dry, rasping scream that descends in pitch — the sound most films attach to Bald Eagles instead.

Juveniles wear a finely banded brown tail and lack the red, so check the pale, unbarred flight feathers and the belly band before deciding. Winter is the season to look for them: northern birds move south and the species becomes almost unavoidable on fence posts and poles along rural roads. Fall migration concentrates birds along ridge lines, where they pass as broad dark V shapes with a tail that still glows reddish against the sky.

Behaviour and daily routine

Most of the day is spent waiting rather than flying. A Red-tailed Hawk hunts from a perch - a utility pole, a dead tree, a highway sign, a fence post - and takes the majority of its prey in short strikes within a few dozen metres of where it sits. Long spells of preening and loafing alternate with those strikes, which is why the same bird may hold the same pole for weeks at a time.

On warm, still mornings it switches to soaring, circling in slow, flat-winged spirals on rising air. Soaring is mainly how the bird travels and watches from height; after a long glide it usually carries the prey back to a perch or the nest to eat. Pairs hold a territory year-round in many areas, and both birds add sticks and fresh green sprigs to the same nest platform each spring.

Voice and calls

The territorial scream is a hoarse, descending kree-eee-ar, given most often from a perch or in a shallow display flight. It carries a long way and is the single most useful cue that a bird is nearby. Sound editors have used it for Bald Eagles so often that the real eagle's giggling chatter now sounds wrong to most listeners.

Young birds sound quite different: a thin, drawn-out whistle, often described as a begging whine, which follows adults around through late summer. There is also a rapid series of kek notes used in alarm when a person, a dog or a crow comes too close, and a soft chittering exchanged between pair members at the nest.

Confusion risks

The red tail decides the adult, but it does not decide the juvenile. Young birds have brown tails with fine dark banding and no red at all, and they are the ones most often reported as something rarer. On a juvenile, check that the flight feathers are clean and unbarred, look at the pale eye, and confirm the band of dark streaks across the belly.

Two other large shapes cause most of the trouble. An immature Bald Eagle is bigger, holds its wings flat as a plank when gliding instead of in a gentle dihedral, and shows a heavy bill projecting well beyond the head. A Northern Harrier flies low on slow, floppy wingbeats, shows a white rump patch, and holds its wings in a shallow V.

Where and when to look

Roadside poles, fence lines, hayfields and woodland edges are the everyday places, and a car makes an excellent hide - birds beside a quiet road often tolerate a slow approach. Winter is the most productive season, because northern breeders move south and join the residents and because bare trees leave fewer places to hide.

In September and October, ridge lines and coastal headlands concentrate migrating birds. Hawks that spent the summer scattered across the countryside pass over in loose streams on the first clear days after a cold front, and a single watch point can produce dozens in a morning.

Fieldcraft and conservation notes

Keep well back from an active nest in spring. Both adults alarm loudly and may stoop at anyone who lingers under the tree, and repeated disturbance can leave eggs or small chicks exposed to weather and to predators. Binoculars or a scope are enough to follow a nest from a distance without changing the birds' behaviour.

The species was shot heavily in the past and thinned its eggshells during the DDT years, but it has recovered strongly and is now the commonest large hawk across much of North America. The modern risks are quieter: collisions with vehicles while a bird feeds on roadkill, and secondary poisoning when a hawk eats a rodent that has taken anticoagulant bait. Trapping rodents without poison, or clearing carcasses promptly, is the practical way to reduce the second of those.

Common questions

Is the Red-tailed Hawk the scream used for Bald Eagles in films?: Generally, yes. The rasping, descending scream most often heard on screen is a Red-tailed Hawk rather than an eagle. A real Bald Eagle's voice is a series of thin, giggling chatter notes that sounds surprisingly weak for so large a bird.
How can I identify a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk?: Start with the tail: a young bird's tail is brown with narrow dark bars instead of red. Then confirm the broad band of dark streaks across the belly, check that the flight feathers are clean and unbarred, and note that the eye is pale rather than dark.
Do Red-tailed Hawks take chickens or pets?: Rodents, rabbits and snakes form the bulk of the diet, and most birds are far too small to tackle anything larger. Free-ranging poultry and very small pets are occasionally taken, and the usual precaution is a covered run rather than open ground.
Why do I seem to see Red-tailed Hawks only in winter?: The birds are present all year. Winter simply brings northern breeders south, strips the leaves from the trees, and pushes birds onto conspicuous roadside and field-edge perches, so they are much easier to notice than in midsummer.