The story of the bird
A still bird, and a watching one. Buteo jamaicensis, the hawk you already know from every roadside pole and every open field at the edge of autumn. The Audubon-style palette gives it warm browns and buff cream, the dark streaked belly band cutting across the pale breast, and the brick-red upper tail that names the species. Patient, elevated, reading the grass below.
Where to hang it
The red-tailed hawk is the cabin-and-country print. It suits a study, a den, a mudroom or a hallway, any room with a little of the outdoors in it. Warm brown or black moulding matches its tone; hang it where the light is even.
Best gift for
Anyone who lives out where the land opens up, or who watches these hawks work the fence lines on the drive to town. It is the everyday raptor made handsome on a wall, a warm gift for a country home, a cabin, or a birder who knows this bird best of all.
About the bird
The Red-tailed Hawk is the most numerous large hawk in North America. Cornell estimates the global population at two million or more, found from Alaska to Panama, across grassland, prairie, desert, forest edge, and city park. It requires two things: a structure from which to watch, and open ground beneath it. Given both, it occupies almost any landscape. The interstate highway system, with its elevated signs and mown roadside verges, has functioned as a continent-spanning extension of its preferred habitat.
The brick-red tail is unambiguous on any perched adult. Juveniles take their first year to grow into it, wearing a finely barred brown tail instead. The rasping, descending scream this bird produces has been used in film to represent every large bird of prey on screen, including the Bald Eagle, whose actual call is a high, thin chittering that sounds considerably less dramatic.
Rodents make up most of the diet in most seasons. The belly band may function as disruptive coloration during the stoop, breaking the hawk’s silhouette as it drops. That detail, still a working hypothesis, is the kind of thing this plate rewards thinking about.
A fine-art study in the tradition of Audubon.
Paper and finish
Unframed prints come on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm, a heavyweight cotton rag with a soft matte surface and true archival life. The framed option is set in a classic moulding, glazed and ready to hang, in black, white or natural.
Sizes
Three sizes: 8x10, 16x20 and 24x30 inches, or an instant digital download at $9. Prints from $39. Framed from $99.
Full field guide: /species/red-tailed-hawk/
