Cooper's Hawk or Red-tailed Hawk? How to Tell Them Apart

Cooper's Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks are two of North America's most common hawks, and both turn up near homes, so they are easy to mix up. The quickest clue is the shape: a Cooper's Hawk has short, rounded wings and a long tail, a Red-tail broad wings and a short, wide tail. This page sets them side by side: size, shape in flight, adults and young birds, eyes, where you see them, food, calls, nests and numbers. For each bird in full, see the Cooper's Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk guides.

Look at the shape first. A Cooper's Hawk is an accipiter, one of the hawks built to chase birds through trees (its genus is now Astur): short, rounded wings, a long, rounded tail and, in flight, a head that sticks out well ahead of the wings. A Red-tail is a buteo, a bulky hawk built for soaring and waiting, with broad, rounded wings and a short, broad tail.^{1, 2, 3}

Then size and color. A Red-tail is much bigger and heavier. An adult Cooper's Hawk is blue-gray above with a dark cap and rusty bars below; an adult Red-tail is brown above, pale below with a band of streaks across the belly, and has the red tail. Young birds of both are brown and streaked with yellow eyes: there, look at the belly and the tail bars.

Last, where it is and what it is doing. A big hawk sitting on a pole by a highway or soaring over a field is most likely a Red-tail. A hawk slipping through backyard trees or dashing at the birds on a feeder is far more likely a Cooper's Hawk (or a Sharp-shinned Hawk) than a Red-tail.

A Red-tail is the bigger bird by some way. A male Cooper's Hawk is 14.6–15.3 inches (37–39 cm) long and a female 16.5–17.7 inches (42–45 cm), about the size of a crow. A male Red-tail is 17.7–22.1 inches (45–56 cm) and a female 19.7–25.6 inches (50–65 cm).^{1, 2}

Their published weight ranges do not overlap. The top of the Cooper's range, about 24 ounces (680 g) for a big female, sits just under the bottom of the male Red-tail range, 24.3 ounces (690 g).^{1, 4, 2} Wingspans are far apart too: 24.4–35.4 inches (62–90 cm) against 44.9–52.4 inches (114–133 cm). In the breeding season, male Red-tails average about 36 ounces (1,028 g) and females 43 ounces (1,224 g); Wisconsin Cooper's Hawks average 11.5 ounces (327 g) and 20.5 ounces (580 g). So a male Red-tail weighs about three times as much as a male Cooper's, and a female about twice as much as a female Cooper's.^{5, 3}

In both, the female is bigger than the male, and in Cooper's Hawks by about a third.⁵ So the closest pair is a big female Cooper's and a small male Red-tail, whose lengths meet at about 17.7 inches (45 cm). Even then the shape gives it away.

A Cooper's Hawk flies with a few quick wingbeats and a short glide, often low, then swings up and over a hedge or building to surprise the birds on the other side. It soars often too, and then the long tail and short, rounded wings are easy to see.^{5, 1}

A Red-tail's wingbeats are slow and heavy, about 2.6 a second. It soars with its wings in a shallow V and the "fingers" at the wingtips spread, and in a strong wind it can hang over one spot, facing into the wind, while it watches the ground.^{3, 2}

From below, a light Red-tail shows a dark bar along the front edge of each wing, between the body and the bend of the wing. On a Cooper's Hawk, look for the head sticking out well ahead of the wings and the long tail behind them.

An adult Cooper's Hawk is blue-gray to brownish gray above, the females browner, with a dark cap that stands out against a paler nape. The breast is white with wide rusty bars, the feathers under the tail are white, and the long gray tail has thick dark bands and a white tip. The eye is orange to red.⁵

An adult Red-tail is rich brown above and pale below, and most have a band of dark streaks across the belly. The tail is cinnamon red above and paler below, with a narrow dark band near the tip. A perched Red-tail often does not show its red tail; it is easiest to see from above.²

Red-tails vary a lot. Dark birds are chocolate brown all over but keep the red tail; "Krider's" Red-tails on the northern Great Plains are very pale; and "Harlan's" birds from Alaska and northwest Canada are dark with a marbled tail that is often not red at all. A belly band on its own does not prove a Red-tail.³

Young birds are the hard pair. Both are brown above and white below with dark marks, both have yellow eyes, and a young Red-tail does not have its red tail yet. Look at the belly and the tail.

A young Cooper's Hawk has fine, crisp, dark brown streaks shaped like teardrops on the breast and belly, heaviest on the upper breast, with no clean white bib and no belly band; the lower belly and the fluffy feathers under the tail are mostly white. Its long, rounded tail has a few broad dark bands and a white tip.^{5, 1, 4}

A young Red-tail has a white bib on the upper breast and a band of dark blotches across the belly. Its gray-brown tail is crossed by many narrow dark bars of even width, and it still has the broad wings and short tail of a buteo.^{3, 2} More on each in juvenile Cooper's Hawks and juvenile Red-tailed Hawks.

The eyes change with age, and differently. A Cooper's Hawk's eye goes from yellow to orange and then red, and stops changing at about five years old.⁵ A Red-tail's eye is pale yellow in young birds and turns slowly brown as it gets older.³ Eye color is a weak clue on its own, though: Cooper's Hawks of the same age vary, many adult females never reach deep red, and an adult Red-tail's eye can look amber, like the bird on the card above.⁵ Read it with the shape and the plumage.

The Red-tail is probably North America's most common hawk. It lives in open country with scattered trees: fields, pastures, roadsides, deserts and parks, and it sits in the open on poles, fenceposts and lone trees. Across most of the continent there are more in winter, when birds from the north arrive.^{6, 3} Adults in a Missouri study spent about 96% of a summer day perched.³

A Cooper's Hawk lives in woods, towns and backyards. Since the 1970s it has moved into suburbs and cities, and it is likely the most common hawk nesting in North American backyards. It hunts from cover rather than from an open perch.⁵

A Red-tail is unlikely in a backyard unless the yard is a big one, and because it eats mostly mammals it is far less likely at a feeder than a Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned Hawk.⁶

A Cooper's Hawk eats mainly birds, mostly medium-sized ones that feed on the ground or in shrubs: doves, pigeons, starlings, robins, jays and flickers, and also chipmunks and squirrels. Most prey weighs 1–4.6 ounces (30–130 g). It catches them by surprise, with a burst of speed from cover.⁵

A Red-tail eats mostly small and medium-sized mammals: voles, mice, rats, rabbits and ground squirrels, with some pheasants, quail and other birds, snakes and carrion. Its prey runs from about half an ounce (15 g) to a jackrabbit of about 4.4 pounds (2,000 g).^{3, 7} In North America it does 60–80% of its hunting from a high perch. When it spots something, it glides down and throws its legs forward to strike. Its broad wings suit soaring and waiting, not chasing birds through trees.³ It very rarely goes after dogs or cats.⁶

A Red-tail's call is a hoarse scream that falls away at the end, lasting 2–3 seconds, mostly from a soaring bird warning off an intruder.³ It is the hawk scream that films use for almost any bird of prey on screen.⁶ The recording below is a single, short scream from a bird in California.⁸

A Cooper's Hawk gives a loud, rapid kak-kak-kak, mostly near its nest, and is quiet for most of the year.⁵ Below, a young bird calls after flying in to a perch.⁹

A Cooper's Hawk builds a stick nest about 27 inches (69 cm) across, 25–50 feet (8–15 m) up in a tree.¹ It lays 3–5 eggs, incubates them for 30–36 days, and the young fly at about 4 to 5 weeks.^{5, 4}

A Red-tail's stick nest is about 28–30 inches (71–76 cm) across and can be built up to 6.5 feet (2 m) high, in the crown of a tall tree, or on a cliff, a tower or a building ledge. It usually lays 2–3 eggs, incubates them for about 28 days, and the young leave the nest at 42–46 days and may stay near their parents for weeks or months. Both raise one brood a year. Great Horned Owls often take over old Red-tail nests.^{3, 7} More in Cooper's Hawk nesting and Red-tailed Hawk nesting.

The Red-tail. Partners in Flight estimates about 3.1 million breeding Red-tails and about 1 million Cooper's Hawks, roughly three Red-tails for every Cooper's.^{7, 1} You also notice Red-tails more, because they sit in the open. Both are increasing: the North American Breeding Bird Survey shows Red-tails up about 1.3% a year from 1966 to 2019, and Cooper's Hawks up about 2.2% a year from 1966 to 2015.^{7, 5}

Both are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act: killing, capturing or keeping one, or taking its nest or eggs, is illegal without a federal permit.^{10, 11}

The oldest known wild Red-tail, on the Bird Banding Laboratory's longevity list, was at least 30 years 8 months old: banded in Michigan in 1981 and found there in 2011.¹² The oldest known wild Cooper's Hawk was at least 20 years 4 months: a male banded in California in 1986 and found dead in Washington in 2006.¹³ For another buteo that looks like a Red-tail, see Red-tailed Hawk or Red-shouldered Hawk?

1. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Cooper's Hawk. All About Birds. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
2. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Red-tailed Hawk identification. All About Birds. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
3. Preston, C. R., Beane, R. D. (2024). Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), version 1.1. Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and M. G. Smith, editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.rethaw.01.1
4. National Audubon Society. Cooper's Hawk. Guide to North American Birds. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
5. Rosenfield, R. N., Madden, K. K., Bielefeldt, J., Curtis-Scott, O. E. (2025). Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii), version 1.2. Birds of the World (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.coohaw.01.2
6. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Red-tailed Hawk overview. All About Birds. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
7. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Red-tailed Hawk life history. All About Birds. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
8. Jonas Katona (2021). Red-tailed Hawk call, Sand Canyon, Santa Clarita, California, 15 February 2021. xeno-canto XC625524. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
9. bungelina (2020). Cooper's Hawk calls, Farm Hills, Redwood City, California, 15 February 2020. iNaturalist sound 57880. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
10. United States Code. 16 U.S.C. 703: Taking, killing, or possessing migratory birds unlawful. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
11. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 50 CFR 10.13: List of birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
12. USGS Bird Banding Laboratory. Longevity records of North American birds: Red-tailed Hawk. USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, Bird Banding Laboratory. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source
13. USGS Bird Banding Laboratory. Longevity records of North American birds. USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, Bird Banding Laboratory. Accessed 30 October 2026. Source