Although many subspecies have been described, and there are currently 14 that we recognize, many of these groups require important work to revise their validity as well as refine our understanding of their respective distributions.
Many Red-tailed Hawk subspecies in understudied regions have been described from limited samples and only by morphometrics. Furthermore, many distributional limits and contact zones are poorly understood. We aim to focus on these areas to better understand these subspecies descriptions and their validity, their respective distributions, and their defining characteristics.
Currently, our main areas of focus are:
Phylogenomics to better understand the evolutionary history of this diverse species, and the relationships between the geographic types.
Population Genomics to elucidate population structure and provide genomic support for subspecies designations.
Distribution and regularity of kriderii, as an attempt to understand this enigmatic plumage type.
Distribution of abieticola, and the presence of polymorphism in the central and eastern Boreal.
Subspecies designations and distributions in Mexico and Central America.
Status of alascensis, and subspecies distributions in British Columbia and Alaska.
Red-tailed Hawk Project 