Red-tailed Hawk

Here's a Red-tailed Hawk from last summer. The mostly North American buteo is arguably our most widespread and versatile raptors, living in forests, meadows, prairies, mountains, valleys, towns, and cities. They'll eat pretty much any animal small enough for them to kill, which is why they're able to live in areas with vastly different prey animals.

Being this widespread means that lots of different populations, and these populations frequently form subspecies with different looks. There are 14-16 subspecies in all; here are the 7 north-of-Mexico ones:

My understanding is that all these subspecies willingly interbreed if they encounter one another, so you probably could see intermediates of many of these subspecies too.

August 17, 2020 at Duke Farms


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