For most of the contiguous United States, clutches are laid in March. Spring migration starts in February and March in northern Mexico and the southern United States.
Early arrivals reach the northern states while the ground is still under snow.
Fall migration from Canada and the adjoining northern states begins in August and continues through early October. Red-tailed hawks occupy a wide variety of open to semiopen habitats. Open to semiopen coniferous, deciduous and mixed woodlands, woodland edges, grasslands, parklands, rangelands, river bottomlands, and agricultural fields with scattered trees are preferred. In Wyoming and Montana, red-tailed hawks nested in several habitats, but nests were most numerous in riparian zones. Where tall trees are unavailable nests may be located almost on the ground.