Category Archives: Uncategorized

Distinguishing between juvenile light morph harlani and kriderii can be difficult. The two are extremely similar, being overall quite pale with high contrast markings. They also interbreed, causing individuals that are intermediate in plumage. As with any bird identification, it is best not to not focus on one trait alone. Instead, it is better to make a holistic assessmentContinue reading “Differentiating juvenile light harlani and juvenile kriderii”

We recently wrapped up a very successful field trip deploying 19 new GPS transmitters for the project. This time we set our sights on the Mississippi River Valley region, hoping to fill gaps in our knowledge of abieticola breeding in the central Boreal forest region. Here, we also sought to expand our distribution of winterContinue reading “19 new transmitters deployed in the Mississippi River Valley!”

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-tailedContinue reading “Still Soaring at 19: Tracking a Red-tailed Hawk’s Golden Years”

Our transmitter efforts in 2025 focused primarily on expanding our knowledge of movement and plumage variation among Red-tailed Hawks in western North America. Our sampling predominately occurred during winter throughout the desert southwest of California, Arizona, and New Mexico and resulted in breeding origins from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and a fewContinue reading “Movement summary from our 2025 transmitters!”

We are excited to share a new research article now published in Movement Ecology! In this paper we investigate how atmospheric conditions influenced the timing of water crossing for Red-tailed Hawks at the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan during spring migration. Specifically, we investigated the availability of over-water uplift and its effect on crossing behavior, which hasContinue reading “Published in Movement Ecology: Crossing the straits of Mackinac…”

We are excited to announce the publication of a new research article for an upcoming movement ecology issue in the Journal of Raptor Research. In this paper, we detail the migratory behavior and plumage variation of GPS-tracked adult Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) that summered in Alaska, USA. We found significant levels of migratory connectivity amongContinue reading “Published in the Journal of Raptor Research – Migratory connectivity of Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) from Alaska, USA”

We’ve just completed a new plate that details harlani identification. This is the first plate of many that we hope to make available for how to distinguish between all subspecies. You can download a high resolution version of this plate by clicking on the image below. Stay tuned for more!

We are extremely excited to share that the Spring 2025 issue of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Living Bird Magazine dons a spectacular photo of an adult Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis harlani) taken by Brian Sullivan, and includes a feature article focused on the work of the Red-tailed Hawk Project, written by the talentedContinue reading “The Red-tailed Hawk Project featured in Living Bird magazine”

We’ve posted a new subspecies account for B. j. fuertesi, led by Brian Sullivan! – https://redtailedhawkproject.org/buteo-jamaicensis-fuertesi/ We continue to work on subspecies overviews for all described Red-tailed Hawk subspecies, so keep checking back for information on your favorite subspecies including the identification, taxonomic history, distribution, status, and our assessment of the current knowledge on the taxon. Continue reading “A subspecies account for B. j. fuertesi”