Spot Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

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Red-Tailed Hawk adults usually can be recognized by the trademark reddish-brown tail, the rest of their plumage can be quite variable, with local Red-tails ranging from blackish, to brown, to nearly white. Diet and behavioral habits: A common resident to Balboa Park since at least the late 1990’s, Red-Tailed Hawks are more numerous in winter, when birds from the far north arrive to join the birds that live in Balboa Park year round. This is the most widespread and familiar large hawk in North America, bulky and broad-winged, designed for effortless soaring. An inhabitant of open country, they are commonly seen perched on roadside poles or sailing over fields and tree-dense areas. This hawk’s diet is varied, and can often be seen hunting from a high perch or in flight, searching for voles, rats, rabbits, and ground squirrels, which are their major prey, but they also eat many birds, bats, frogs, toads, insects, and reptiles, especially snakes. Nesting habits: Usually nesting in tall trees, they will also build nests on cliff ledges, among arms of giant cactus, or on artificial structures such as towers or buildings, like the Museum of Man’s California Tower. The nest (built by both sexes) a bulky bowl of sticks, lined with finer materials, often with leafy green branches

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