Red-tailed Hawk Flying Free

Hawks are divided into two genus, Buteos and Accipiters. Buteos have long wings and a relatively short tail while Accipiters are the opposite with short wings and a longer tail. Buteos are typically the soaring hawks. The long wings help them to ride the air drafts and thermals. With a shorter tail they are not as acrobatic in the air as the Accipiters are. One of the larger Buteos in North America is the red-tailed hawk. It is often easy to tell a red-tail in flight by the slight "V" shape of the wings which is called a dihedral.

The red-tailed hawk is the most common raptor seen in North America. They are often seen perched on signs and light poles on the side of many roads. This is because the roads provide an excellent hunting habitat for these birds. Red-tails are ambush hunters. They typically perch and wait for prey, which takes a lot less energy then flying around. Since there are typically not a lot of trees and bushes on the road side and the grass is often cut the red-tail perched up on the light pole has a very large area for which it can search for prey.