The Red-tail below was in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, in
August, 1999, and was shot with the same gear as the North Dakota bird above.
The two shots immediately below show a typical southwestern Red-tail. The shots were taken at Bosque del Apache N.W.R., Socorro Co., New Mexico in November, 2005, with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II and EF 500mm F/4 L IS lens and 1.4X extender.
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The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is widespread over pretty much all of North America and is a familiar sight to many people, even those not interested in wildlife. The species is incredibly adaptable as to habitat preferences and has learned to live in and around mankind rather well. There is a famous pair in New York City who live among the skyscrapers and hunt squirrels in the parks. Many other urban areas have less well-known Red-taileds as well. This species comes in a wide variety of colors and races. I have seen almost white birds as well as some that are completely black save for the brick-red tail, and almost everything in between. Just a handful of the varieties out there are shown here. Only the adult has the red tail while immature birds generally have a brown tail with thin, dark bands. The immature Red-tailed Hawk on the left was photographed on a fence post in Williams Co., North Dakota, in August, 1999, with a Canon EOS 1N and EF 600m F/4 L lens and 1.4X extender on Fuji Sensia. The adult immediately below was in Marfa, Presidio Co., Texas, in September, 2005, and was photographed with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II and EF 600mm F/4 L IS lens and 1.4X extender. I will add more images on this page as my time permits.
The bird below is a rufous morph western race Red-tail. I got a few distant shots of this bird in October, 1997, at Togwotee Pass near Dubois, Wyoming, with a Canon T-90 and Sigma 500mm F/4.5 lens and 1.4X extender on Fuji Sensia.
The below individual was in Socorro Co., New Mexico, in December, 1999. This shot was taken with a Canon EOS 1N and EF 600mm F/4 L lens and 1.4X on Fuji Sensia.
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