ORANGE COUNTY ZOO
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Red-Tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis
Description: 19-25
inches long. wingspread 46-58 inches. Dark brown above, white below with brown
streaks on lower neck. has dark streaking across white belly. Chestnut red on
upper side of tail. Male is smaller than female.
Range: Most of North America, south to Panama and West Indies.
Habitat: Prefers open pastures interspersed with woods, bluffs and streamside trees, deserts with some trees and mountain forests. Lives throughout North America except on tundra or in unbroken forest.
Diet: Mice, grasshoppers, squirrels, rabbits, moles, skunks, waterfowl, pheasants, woodpeckers, crows, snakes (including rattlesnakes), frogs, turtles, fish, spiders and earthworms.
Nest: Three feet across of sticks. Built 15-70 feet up in a tree. Also will nest in top of shrub, cactus or on cliff. 2-3 white eggs are incubated mostly by the female for 30 days. Young fly at 45 days old.
General Information: Top flight speed is 40 m.p.h., but possibly 120 m.p.h. in aerial dive.