As of 2021, Pale Male has reached 31 years of age and has not had any chicks for at least 2 years. He’s had many children with his mates, further adding to his fame for living not just in New York, but founding what his fans call a dynasty of birds native to the city. This made him the first red-tailed hawk to ever build a nest not on a tree, but on a human building.įrom 1992 to 2012, Pale Male has had 8 different mates, each with their own name given by bird watchers. Local murders of crows forced him out, with Pale Male building his new nest on a building across the street. They also gave him his name from the unusual paleness of his head, which he kept even after becoming a full adult. Pale Male became famous for living in New York City.Ī red-tailed hawk that first arrived in the city in 1991, bird watchers remember how he tried to build a nest in a tree at Central Park. Red-tailed hawks also live on the various islands of the Caribbean Sea and range inland to Central Panama. Inland, they range across Mexico and then south to Guatemala and Nicaragua. Along the Pacific, they live in Baja California, and then south, along the Mexican coast. From there, they range south along the Atlantic Seaboard, down to Florida. Red-tailed hawks live as far north as Alaska, and across Northern Canada, all the way to Quebec. In fact, they’re the most distributed birds of prey across the region. Read also: 17 Facts About Iguana Red-tailed hawks live all across the Americas. They may also make duck-like croaking as a sign of relaxation. Adults also make mechanical, water-like sounds, and even chirping, when courting a mate. Their chicks also make sleepy-sounding peeping noises, as well as two-syllable wails whenever their parents return from a hunt. In addition to their cry, red-tailed hawks may also make croaking sounds as a warning to potential enemies. This cry has also become the generic cry for birds of prey in general, and commonly gets misattributed to the bald eagle. They also make the cry when facing a competing predator, or when another hawk enters their territory. They also start out with a high pitch, which then abruptly drops, described by some as similar to a steam whistle. In particular, the cries they make while out hunting or flying high usually lasts from 2 to 3 seconds long. This gives the species the distinction of contradicting Bergmann’s Rule, which states that animals living closer to the equator grow bigger than those living further away. Also, red-tailed hawks living further north also tend to grow bigger than those living further south. Amongst themselves, red-tailed hawks from eastern North America have smaller but heavier bodies than those from the west. And while they’re smaller than their Eurasian cousin the rough-legged buzzard, red-tailed hawks still weigh slightly heavier than they do. Red-tailed hawks make up the heaviest hawks in eastern North America, and second in size only to ferruginous hawks. Photo by Pixabay Their weight also sets them apart from their cousins. They also have pale wing edges, but all red-tailed hawks have yellow beaks, legs, and feet. Younger red-tailed hawks have paler heads and darker backs than full adults, while their tails start out as light brown that turns red as they grow older. And, of course, their tails have a uniform brick-red color on top, giving the species their name.īelow their tails, their feathers form a black band against a buff-orange backdrop. The feathers on their backs also tend to grow darker than most of their feathers, with paler feathers forming a variable V-shaped mark. Adults also all tend to have dark brown napes and heads, with light brown throats. First, they all have white underbellies, with a band of dark brown running across their bellies. Their different subspecies vary in the details, of course, but all subspecies have shared traits when it comes to their appearance. Red-tailed hawks have a distinctive appearance.
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