The most common and widespread buteo in North America, the red-tailed hawk is especially abundant on the farmlands of the Midwest. Favoring open country with nearby woodlands, these raptors often perch on limbs, fenceposts or phone poles along highways, scanning the roadside grassland for cottontails, mice and voles. Any heavy-bodied, white-breasted hawk perched along a U.S. interstate is a red-tailed hawk until proven otherwise; their pale, red tail becomes conspicuous when they soar above the pastures and cropfields.
Driving west on I-70 today, I saw at least 100 red-tails between Columbia, Missouri and Salina, Kansas. Further west, where few trees dot the High Plains, red-tails are much less common; this is the domain of Swainson's hawks (summer residents), ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks (winter) and prairie falcons. Red-tails become common once again across the Front Range urban corridor; here, woodlands line the South Platte River, Arkansas River and regional reservoirs, offering sites for roosting and nesting. Of course, these buteos also inhabit the many parklands of the Colorado Piedmont and Front Range foothills. Rather silent for much of the year, their piercing call is often heard in late winter as their breeding season begins.
