Red-tailed Hawks Are Way Bigger, Faster and More Common Than You Realize

Surely you've seen a gorgeous bald eagle sweep across a TV or movie screen while it makes its familiar call — a harsh scream that sounds like "KEEE-eeer." But chances are you what you heard wasn't an eagle at all. It was more likely the piercing shrill of a red-tailed hawk instead.

"The eagle's call is much 'weaker' and sounds wimpy compared to that of the hawk," Scott Barnes, All Things Birds program director and assistant director of eco-travel for New Jersey Audubon, says in an email interview. Because the smaller and more prevalent red-tailed hawk has a much mightier voice than its larger cousin, the bald eagle, Hollywood regularly dubs over the call of the bald eagle with that of the red-tailed hawk to toughen up the symbol of America. (The bald eagle actually boasts a little cackling type of a laugh that's not very impressive.)

Red-tailed Hawks Are Way Bigger, Faster and More Common Than You Realize