How to Identify a Red-Shouldered Hawk

Look at the hawk's upper parts and head. A red-shouldered hawk will have a brown or reddish head, which may have pale spots. Then wait for the hawk to perch and see if it has the hawk's characteristic reddish-brown shoulders.

Notice if the hawk has a white or pale underbelly, which may be marked with red-brown bars. The red-shouldered hawk will also have long, yellow legs.

Watch the hawk's wings, which will be the same reddish-brown as its shoulders, extending down to pale or white feathers, terminating in dark tips.

Observe the hawks in flight. Red-shouldered hawks use a flapping motion to fly, and in flight, will have a pale crescent shape near their wingtips when in flight.

Look at the hawk's tail. The red-shouldered hawk, like the red-tailed hawk, have long tails, but the red-tailed hawks have reddish brown feathers, while the red-shouldered hawk's feathers are dark and occasionally marked with white or pale bars.

Observe the hawk's nests. Red-shouldered hawks build nests in forests or flooded swamps, in the main crotch of a tree. The nests are usually woven of sticks, leaves and moss, lined with lichen and conifer twigs, and filled with a clutch of two to five dull white or light blue eggs.