Red-tailed Hawk in Puerto Rico

Where the Red-tailed Hawk lives

The atlas describes it as widespread and fairly abundant across the main island, most numerous in the mountains, and present in all habitats and elevations, including towns and urban areas. It is also known from satellite islands such as Desecheo, Culebra, and Vieques, where it is a fairly common resident.

Mona has records too: a flight call recorded on the island in May 2025 is in this site's sound archive. That breadth has a practical meaning: a Red-tailed Hawk over the expressway, a coffee farm, or El Yunque is not a rare record but the expected pattern.

How to identify it

It is a large, bulky raptor: females are 48 to 66 centimeters long with a wingspan of 114 to 132 centimeters, and males are somewhat smaller. It has broad wings and a short, wide tail, and adults show the rufous tail that gives the bird its name. Many adults have a pale chest and a band of dark streaks across the belly, though plumage varies considerably.

The red tail is an adult mark: a juvenile's tail is brown above with dark bars. To avoid confusion, compare size and habitat: the Broad-winged Hawk is about crow-sized, with broad tail bands, and tied to mature forest; the Osprey is white below with black wrist patches and stays near water. If you are torn between Turkey Vulture and hawk, check our raptors guide before reporting.

Territory and movements

From 2000 to 2002, researchers radio-tracked 21 Red-tailed Hawks in the Luquillo Mountains. Home ranges averaged 5,022.6 hectares (305 to 11,288) and core areas 564.8 hectares, with weekly movements of about 3,286 meters. The birds overlapped extensively rather than defending exclusive territories.

The same study found a preference for roadside habitat and a habit of perching near the tops of emergent trees. The authors suggest that forest fragmentation outside protected areas may benefit the Red-tailed Hawk, an advantage that, as you will see below, comes at a cost to other raptors.

What the Red-tailed Hawk eats

In Puerto Rico the Red-tailed Hawk has a very broad diet: birds and even other raptors, such as the Short-eared Owl and the Puerto Rican Parrot; reptiles such as the Puerto Rican Boa; land crabs (Cardisoma guanhumi); and introduced mammals such as rats and mongooses. On islands without native mammalian ground predators, raptors play a central ecological role.

Its typical technique is to hunt from a high perch and swoop onto prey, though it also patrols in flight. That breadth has consequences: the 2023 federal review documents Red-tailed Hawk predation on fledglings and nesting females of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, an endangered subspecies.

Nesting and population

It builds a large, bulky stick nest, usually high in a tree or on a cliff face. The literature reports nesting from January to July, and one local study extends it from November to August; the atlas found activity year-round, most from March to June, peaking in June. Of hexagons with breeding evidence, 58% were in subtropical moist forest.

The 2019 population model for Luquillo used a 2.3-egg average clutch and estimated growing populations both above 400 meters (λ = 1.05) and below (λ = 1.27). It is not in any threat category of DRNA or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

The hawk's call and the kingbird saying

Anyone searching for the Red-tailed Hawk's sound can hear a flight call recorded on Mona Island on its profile, plus recordings from the United States for comparison. Audubon describes the voice as a high-pitched, hoarse, descending scream, “keeeeer”; paired with a broad-winged silhouette, it is a good cue to look up.

The Puerto Rican saying “a cada guaraguao le llega su pitirre” (every hawk meets its kingbird) comes from a familiar countryside scene: the much smaller Gray Kingbird chasing a hawk in midair. Audubon describes Gray Kingbirds as very active and bold in nest defense, even attacking people who come too close. If you see a hawk pursued by a noisy gray bird, you are watching the saying in action.

What is a guaraguao?

Guaraguao is the Puerto Rican name for broad-winged Buteo hawks, above all the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), the island's most widespread resident raptor. The much rarer, endangered Broad-winged Hawk (Guaraguao de Bosque) also lives on the island.

What does a Red-tailed Hawk sound like?

Its call is a hoarse, descending scream often heard while it circles. The Red-tailed Hawk profile on this site includes a flight call recorded on Mona Island in 2025.

What does “a cada guaraguao le llega su pitirre” mean?

It is a Puerto Rican saying meaning that even the biggest or most powerful will meet someone who stands up to them. It comes from the Gray Kingbird, a small bird that chases and attacks hawks in midair when they approach its territory.

What does the Red-tailed Hawk eat in Puerto Rico?

Its diet is very broad: birds and other raptors, reptiles such as the Puerto Rican Boa, land crabs, and introduced mammals such as rats and mongooses. It hunts mostly from high perches, swooping onto prey.

Is there a Common Black Hawk in Puerto Rico?

The Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) appears in the Puerto Rican Ornithological Society catalog coded “Accidental?”, an exceptional and uncertain record. A dark hawk in Puerto Rico should first be compared with variable Red-tailed Hawk plumages.

Is the Red-tailed Hawk endangered in Puerto Rico?

The Red-tailed Hawk is not: it is in no local or federal threat category, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern. The one that is endangered is the Broad-winged Hawk, a subspecies restricted to mature forest.