How to Identify White-tailed Hawk Feathers

What White-tailed Hawk's Feathers Look Like

White-tailed Hawk is a large buteo (about 46-59 cm) of open grassland and coastal prairie, and its feathers reflect a striking pale-bodied, dark-backed pattern. Back and upperwing covert feathers are a fairly uniform slate-grey, smooth and moderately dense, while the underparts — breast, belly, underwing coverts — are crisp white, giving the bird a strongly two-toned look overall. A rufous patch on the shoulder (lesser wing coverts) is another useful clue: small feathers from this area show a reddish-rufous wash distinct from the grey back and white underparts around them.

The single best diagnostic feather is from the tail: White-tailed Hawk has a short white tail crossed by one bold, wide black band near the tip, sometimes with one or more much thinner additional bands closer to the base — a white tail feather with this single dominant black band is one of the most recognizable feather patterns among American buteos. Flight feathers (primaries and secondaries) are pale grey with darker grey tips, and the underwing is largely white with a dark trailing edge, typical of soaring open-country hawks. Overall feather texture is fairly stiff and structured, typical of a large raptor built for extended soaring.

Step-by-Step: Is This Feather From a White-tailed Hawk?

• Look for a white tail feather with one bold black band near the tip. This pattern, especially with thin secondary banding closer to the base, is the strongest single clue for this species.
• Check for a grey back paired with white underparts. This strongly two-toned body pattern fits this species well among open-country buteos.
• Look for a rufous shoulder feather. A reddish patch amid otherwise grey-and-white feathers supports this identification.
• Measure the feather. Flight feathers can run 25-35 cm and tail feathers around 18-22 cm, consistent with a large buteo.
• Rule out heavy overall barring. This species doesn't show dense barring across the body; heavy barring suggests looking to a different buteo instead.

Similar Species & How to Tell Them Apart

The closest look-alike in North America is the Red-tailed Hawk, but Red-tailed Hawk's tail is uniformly rufous-red (in adults) rather than white with a single bold black band, making tail color and pattern the fastest way to separate the two. Swainson's Hawk, also found in similar open habitat, shows a dark bib across the chest and a brown-and-white barred tail rather than White-tailed Hawk's clean white tail with one dominant band. Ferruginous Hawk, sharing grassland habitat in parts of the range, shows rufous leg feathers ("trousers") and a pale rufous-and-white tail rather than the crisp grey-white-black combination of White-tailed Hawk.

Where & When You'll Find Them

White-tailed Hawks are found in open grassland, coastal prairie, and savanna from southern Texas along the Gulf Coast down through Mexico and Central America into much of South America (with a somewhat disjunct distribution). Most populations are non-migratory residents tied to open grassland habitat, so feathers can be found across the year, though molt activity likely increases somewhat after the breeding season. Look for feathers in open grassland and prairie where these hawks hunt from perches or by soaring, particularly near favored perch posts, fence lines, or isolated trees at the edge of large open fields, since this species strongly favors treeless or sparsely treed open country over forest.