A 19-year-old recaptured Red-tailed Hawk has been fitted with a GPS transmitter by The Red-tailed Hawk Project, creating an exceptional opportunity to track the movements of a long-surviving individual!
Meet ‘Maxine”, originally banded as a juvenile on September 25, 2007 by volunteers at the HawkWatch International Chelan Ridge raptor migration site in Washington state. Red-tailed Hawk Project Researcher Neil Paprocki captured Maxine in central Washington and outfitted her with a GPS transmitter on March 6, 2026 — making her nearly 19 years old! If you are wondering, the longevity record for Red-tailed Hawk according to the USGS Bird Banding Lab is 30 years and 8 months. Maxine has another 10+ years to go if she hopes to break that record!
Thanks to detailed records kept by HawkWatch International biologists, we have a unique opportunity to compare Maxine’s morphology between 2007 and 2026. She has always been a larger bird, weighing 1,399 grams and 1,483 grams in 2007 and 2026, respectively (around 3 pounds). Like many other Buteos, her tail was significantly longer and wings shorter as a juvenile. Longer tails and shorter wings in juvenile Buteos likely function to increase control and maneuverability as young birds learn to fly.
We rarely get the chance to track the movements of known aged individuals this old because it is difficult to age unmarked birds at capture past ~4 years of age and tracking devices placed on younger birds may only last until the birds are 5-years old (or up to 10 years in rare cases). We are excited for this a golden opportunity to learn about the ecology of a Red-tailed Hawk in her golden years!
Thanks to project collaborators HawkWatch International for originally banding Maxine and Kidd Biological, Inc. for sponsoring this transmitter!
Red-tailed Hawk Project 