Red-Tailed Hawk

North Carolina Wildlife Profiles: Red-Tailed Hawk (N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission)
Red-tailed hawks like a mix of open country and deciduous forests. Generally, they prefer the woods for nesting and roosting, and fields for feeding.

Birds of North Carolina: Red-Tailed Hawk  (Carolina Bird Club)
Red-tails favor a mix of forests and fairly large fields, nesting quietly in trees inside the forest, but spending most of their time foraging in fields and roadsides, observing prey from soaring overhead or from a high perch in a tree.

All About Birds – Red-Tailed Hawk (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Most Red-tailed Hawks are rich brown above and pale below, with a streaked belly and, on the wing underside, a dark bar between shoulder and wrist.

Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) (Maryland Department of Natural Resources)
Following courtship and breeding, both the male and female red-tailed hawk will work together to build large nests out of sticks. The nests are typically 29-38 inches in diameter and up to 3 feet tall!

Red-Tailed Hawk (Wikipedia)
The breeding season usually begins in late February through March, but can commence as early as late December in Arizona and late January in Wisconsin or to the opposite extreme as late as mid-April as in Alberta. In this pre-nesting period, high-circling with much calling will occur. One or both members of a pair may be involved. The courtship display often involves dangling legs, at times the pair will touching each other’s wings and male’s feet may touch female’s back, she may occasional roll over and present talons, food passes are rarely reported.