The tail has a number of irregular dark gray bands. Below, the bird is somewhat paler brown than above, with the thigh feathering some shade of buff, and the legs and feet yellow. The species ranges over almost all of North America, from Alaska and southern Canada down to Central Mexico. This is a bird of the most inhospitable and extensive open mountainous areas of the Northern Hemisphere, and this is especially true in the United States.
Most pairs have a number of alternative sites which are used in rotation.
It undoubtedly does eat domestic lambs, and even sheep, on occasion, but in such cases the prey is probably already dead, or at least extremely sick.