Hawk A powerful, thickset, aggressive bird with a loud voice and a distinctive chestnut tail, the red-tailed hawk tolerates a wide variety of habitats, probably more than any other North American hawk. It is an opportunistic hunter, and although its staple diet is rodents and rabbits, it also eats snakes, lizards, birds and insects. It hunts on the wing or from a perch, swooping down on prey.
Pairs display over the breeding territory.
A nest is made of twigs high in a tree or, in the desert, on a cactus plant. The female hawk remains on or near the nest for some weeks before laying her clutch of 1 to 4 eggs. Her mate feeds her throughout this period. Both parents share the incubation, which lasts from 28 to 32 days. The young birds are able to feed themselves at 4 or 5 weeks.