How to Draw a Red-Tailed Hawk

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Red Tailed Hawk in 7 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.

The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.

Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.

At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Red Tailed Hawk.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw a Red Tailed Hawk - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: Draw the head by making the right and bottom portions of a triangle. Make a little hook for the beak.

Step 2: Draw an oval for the eye and draw a line above it. Make a small line to define the beak.

Step 3: Going down from the head, make a large half-oval for one of the wings. Make lots of bumps and indents for all of the feathers the hawk has.

Step 4: For the other wing, do the same above the head. Keep making bumps and indents for the feathers, making them bigger as you move more to the right.

Step 5: Draw the tail by connecting the two wings with more feathers that extend farther to the left of the body. These feathers if colored should be red, giving the Red-Tailed Hawk its name.

Step 6: Draw the details of the wings with a bumpy and ragged line halfway across the top wing. Make it go back to the top tail feather.

Step 7: Draw the details of the other wings by making another bumpy and ragged line all the way to the right-most part of the bottom wing. Your Red-Tailed Hawk is now done!

Interesting Facts about Red-Tailed Hawks

Red-tailed hawks are birds that are native to North America. They can also be found in Central America. Red-tailed hawks live in a variety of habitats, from forests to cities. They are one of the birds of prey (also called raptors), which are birds that hunt for their food. Birds of prey swoop down on their targets and catch them with their talons.

Did you know?

  • Red-tailed hawks are usually brown with, of course, red tails. They have curved black beaks.
  • Red-tailed hawks eat small mammals, fish, rodents, insects, and reptiles.
  • When diving for their prey, red-tailed hawks can reach speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.
  • Female red-tailed hawks are larger than males.
  • Red-tailed hawks are also called buzzard hawks, chicken hawks, or simply red hawks.

Red-tailed hawks mate for life. Females lay one to three eggs at a time, and they do most of the incubating. Incubation is the term used to describe when birds sit on top of the eggs, which are in a nest, to keep them warm. Once in a while males will take a turn at keeping their eggs warm. When the chicks leave the nest, their parents teach them how to hunt for food.

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