Stand in an open Virginia field for twenty minutes and there’s a good chance a hawk will pass overhead, whether it’s a broad-winged buteo riding a thermal or a slim accipiter darting between trees after a songbird. The Commonwealth’s mix of coastal marsh, farmland, mountain ridge, and river valley supports one of the most varied hawk populations on the East Coast, and knowing the different types of hawks in Virginia turns a fleeting silhouette into a confident identification.
This guide walks through the eleven species most likely to appear in Virginia skies, backyards, and wetlands, with the field marks, habitats, and behaviors that separate one from another. Some are year-round residents that nest in the state, while others pass through only during migration or winter. A few, like the bald and golden eagles that share Virginia’s skies, are sometimes confused with the state’s largest hawks, so the distinctions matter for accurate birdwatching.
| Hawk Group | Wing and Tail Shape | Typical Habitat | Example Species |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buteos (soaring hawks) | Broad, rounded wings; short, wide tail | Open fields, farmland, roadsides | Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Broad-winged |
| Accipiters (forest hawks) | Short, rounded wings; long tail | Woodlands, backyard feeders | Cooper’s, Sharp-shinned, Northern Goshawk |
| Harriers | Long wings held in a shallow V | Marshes, grasslands | Northern Harrier |
| Fish hawks | Long, angled wings; crooked in flight | Rivers, lakes, coastline | Osprey |
1. Red-tailed Hawk
The red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is the hawk most Virginians see without realizing it, perched on a highway light post or fence rail scanning the shoulder for mice. According to the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds, red-tailed hawks are large hawks with typical Buteo proportions: very broad, rounded wings and a short, wide tail. That silhouette, paired with a cinnamon-red tail on adults, makes them one of the easier types of hawks in Virginia to learn first.
Size alone can be deceptive, since large females seen from a distance might fool you into thinking you’re seeing an eagle, as the red-tailed is the second-largest Buteo hawk in North America, after the ferruginous hawk. Coloring varies widely across the population, and dark-morph birds are all chocolate-brown with a warm red tail, while rufous-morph birds are reddish-brown on the chest with a dark belly. The Animal Spot field guide notes that the red-tailed hawk is the most common raptor in Northern Virginia, often visible on long countryside drives.
Red-tails hunt mostly from an elevated perch, watching for movement before dropping in a short glide. They favor mammals over songbirds, which is one reason they’re less likely to visit a backyard feeder than a Cooper’s or sharp-shinned hawk. Their grip strength is considerable, with talons capable of exerting over 200 pounds per square inch of crushing force, according to a Virginia raptor overview from Avian Bliss.
Pro Tip: Look for a dark bar along the leading edge of the wing near the shoulder (the “patagial mark”) to confirm a red-tailed hawk even before the tail color is visible.
2. Red-shouldered Hawk
The red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) prefers wetter, wooded habitat than its red-tailed cousin, often turning up along river bottoms, swampy hardwood forests, and wooded neighborhoods near creeks. Adults show a checkered black-and-white pattern on the wings and a reddish-orange wash across the shoulders and chest, which gives the species its name. In flight, translucent crescent-shaped patches near the wingtips help separate it from other buteos at a distance.
This hawk is vocal and territorial, giving a sharp, repeated “kee-yer” call that carries through the woods, especially during the breeding season in early spring. Unlike the red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawks tend to stay close to a defended territory year-round rather than roaming open country. Virginia’s mixed hardwood forests and floodplain woodlands provide steady habitat for the species across most of the state, from the Tidewater region into the Piedmont.
Diet leans toward small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and the occasional crayfish pulled from shallow water, which reflects the species’ fondness for damp forest edges. Homeowners near wooded streams sometimes mistake a passing blue jay’s imitation call for a real red-shouldered hawk, since jays frequently mimic this species almost perfectly.
3. Broad-winged Hawk
The broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) is a compact, stocky bird best known in Virginia for its dramatic autumn migration rather than for backyard sightings. Compared with other buteo hawks found across North America, this species has a shorter, more rectangular build with blunt wingtips and a boldly banded black-and-white tail.
What makes the broad-winged hawk memorable is its habit of migrating in enormous flocks called “kettles,” sometimes numbering in the thousands, as thermals carry them south along mountain ridgelines each September. Virginia’s ridge-and-valley terrain, including well-known hawk watch sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains, gives birders a front-row seat to this spectacle every autumn. Outside migration season, broad-winged hawks are quiet, secretive forest dwellers that nest in dense deciduous woodland and rarely perch in the open the way a red-tailed hawk does.
Their diet is broader than most buteos, including small mammals, amphibians, insects, and reptiles, which suits their forest-interior lifestyle. By late fall almost the entire Virginia population has departed for wintering grounds in Central and South America, making this one of the more seasonal types of hawks in Virginia rather than a year-round resident.
4. Cooper’s Hawk
The Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii) is the backyard bird-feeder predator many Virginians encounter up close, since it hunts songbirds with quick, low dashes through yards and hedgerows. The Cooper’s hawk can be found in the forests of Northern Virginia, though it adapts readily to suburban neighborhoods with mature trees and reliable bird feeders.
Identification hinges on the long, banded tail and blue-gray back paired with a reddish, barred chest on adults, though juveniles show brown streaking instead. Cooper’s hawks are often confused with the smaller sharp-shinned hawk, and the two species remain a classic identification challenge even for experienced birders. Size, head shape, and tail proportions offer the most reliable clues once a bird is seen well.
These accipiters build stick nests high in mature trees and defend their territory aggressively during nesting season, sometimes swooping at people who wander too close. Their hunting strategy relies on surprise and short bursts of speed through cluttered habitat, a stark contrast to a red-tailed hawk’s patient perch-and-wait style.
Key Insight: A Cooper’s hawk’s head appears larger and more rounded relative to its body than a sharp-shinned hawk’s, and its tail typically shows a rounded tip rather than a squared-off one.
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk
The sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) is the smallest of Virginia’s regularly occurring hawks, roughly the size of a blue jay, and it shares the Cooper’s hawk’s taste for songbirds at backyard feeders. Short, rounded wings and a proportionally long tail let it thread through dense branches at speed while pursuing sparrows, warblers, and other small birds.
Females are noticeably larger than males in this species, a pattern common across many raptors but especially pronounced in accipiters. Sharp-shinned hawks favor forested habitat for breeding, typically retreating to dense conifer or mixed woodland, and they become more visible in Virginia during fall migration and winter when northern populations move south. Backyard birdwatchers sometimes see a sudden empty feeder and a puff of feathers as the only evidence a sharp-shinned hawk passed through.
Compared with the state’s larger buteos, this hawk relies almost entirely on surprise attacks rather than soaring flight, and it rarely lingers in open sky the way a red-tailed or rough-legged hawk in more open western landscapes might.
6. Northern Harrier
The Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) hunts differently from any other hawk on this list, cruising low and slow over open ground rather than soaring high or ambushing from cover. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources notes that the Northern harrier, formerly known as the marsh hawk, is a low-gliding hawk most easily distinguished by its white rump patch just above the tail, and it is most commonly seen flying low over coastal marshes.
Long wings held in a shallow V-shape and an owl-like facial disc that helps the bird hear rustling prey beneath grass or marsh vegetation set the harrier apart visually and behaviorally. Males are pale gray while females and juveniles show warm brown tones, creating notable plumage differences within the same species.
Conservation status is a growing concern for this species in Virginia. DWR’s raptor management page reports that continued loss of habitat has led to declining numbers of this species, and it is now on the state’s list of species of greatest conservation need (Tier III). Coastal marshes and reclaimed grasslands remain the harrier’s stronghold in the state.
Important Note: The Northern Harrier’s Tier III conservation status in Virginia means habitat protection around marshes and open grasslands directly affects the species’ long-term survival in the state.
7. Northern Goshawk
The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is the largest and least frequently encountered of Virginia’s accipiters, favoring remote, mature forest in the state’s mountainous western counties over the suburban edges Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks tolerate. Slate-gray upperparts, a pale barred breast, and a bold white eyebrow stripe distinguish adults from the smaller accipiters, though the resemblance in shape and flight style can still cause confusion at a glance.
This hawk is a powerful, aggressive hunter capable of taking prey as large as grouse, squirrels, and rabbits, relying on explosive bursts of speed through dense timber. Goshawks nest deep in interior forest and famously defend their nest sites, occasionally striking intruders that venture too close, including researchers and hikers.
Sightings in Virginia are rare enough that most confirmed records come from the Appalachian ridges and forested highlands rather than the Piedmont or coastal plain. Anyone comparing hawks across state lines, such as the goshawks and accipiters documented in Colorado’s mountain forests, will notice the species favors similarly remote, unbroken woodland wherever it occurs.
8. Rough-legged Hawk
The rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus) is a winter visitor only, breeding far to the north in Arctic tundra before some individuals drift south into Virginia’s open farmland and grasslands during the coldest months. True to its name, feathers extend down the legs all the way to the toes, an adaptation for the frigid breeding grounds it calls home most of the year.
Field identification relies on a dark belly band, a black wrist patch visible from below in flight, and a habit of hovering in place over open fields while hunting, a behavior less common among Virginia’s other buteos. Light and dark color morphs both occur, adding variety to an already distinctive silhouette.
Because this hawk depends on rodent populations in open country, Virginia’s agricultural fields and reclaimed grasslands offer suitable winter habitat during years when northern food sources run short. Sightings tend to cluster in the colder months and taper off by early spring as birds return north to breed, similar to patterns seen among wintering rough-legged hawks across the Great Plains states like Kansas.
9. Ferruginous Hawk
The ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) is primarily a bird of the open western plains, and its appearance in Virginia is considered a genuinely rare event rather than a regular seasonal occurrence. As the largest buteo in North America, it dwarfs even a red-tailed hawk, with broad wings, a pale head, and rusty-colored legs that give the species its name.
This hawk specializes in hunting ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and other burrowing mammals across short-grass prairie and arid rangeland, habitat that simply does not exist in meaningful quantity within Virginia’s borders. Occasional vagrant sightings do occur, typically during fall or winter when a wandering individual strays far outside its normal range.
Because confirmed Virginia records are so uncommon, any reported sighting warrants careful documentation and comparison against similar species like the rough-legged or red-tailed hawk before confirmation. Birders hoping to see this species more reliably will have far better luck in its core range across states such as Oklahoma’s grasslands and rangeland, where the species breeds regularly.
10. Swainson’s Hawk
The Swainson’s hawk (Buteo swainsoni) is another western species that shows up in Virginia only as an occasional vagrant, far outside its normal breeding range across the Great Plains and western prairies. Long, pointed wings held in a shallow dihedral during soaring flight give this hawk a slightly different silhouette than the state’s resident buteos, closer in profile to a turkey vulture at a distance.
Adults typically show a dark chest bib contrasting with a pale belly, though plumage varies considerably between light and dark morphs. This species is famous for one of the longest migrations of any North American raptor, traveling in large flocks all the way to the pampas of Argentina for the winter.
Virginia sightings are infrequent enough that most come from experienced birders documenting an unusual individual during migration season rather than from casual backyard observation. Comparing notes with birders in states along the species’ regular migration corridor, including those tracking Swainson’s hawks moving through Texas each fall, helps put Virginia’s rare records into context.
11. Osprey
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is unmistakable once seen fishing, hovering briefly over water before folding its wings and plunging feet-first to snatch a fish near the surface. Distinctive white underparts, a dark eye stripe, and long, angled wings that appear crooked in flight separate this species from every other hawk in Virginia, and many biologists classify it in its own family rather than alongside true hawks.
Virginia’s rivers, the Chesapeake Bay, and coastal waterways support one of the densest breeding osprey populations on the Atlantic Coast, with nests often built atop channel markers, duck blinds, and purpose-built nesting platforms. This recovery followed a difficult period in the mid-20th century, when Virginia DWR records show that the osprey was especially hard-hit by widespread DDT use, though osprey have now been de-listed as populations recovered following the 1974 pesticide ban.
Ospreys migrate to Central and South America for the winter, returning to the same nest site year after year, often for a decade or more with the same mate. Anyone scanning Virginia’s waterways alongside herons and egrets covered in guides to the state’s water birds will likely spot an osprey patrolling overhead before long.
Pro Tip: From a distance, an osprey’s white head and dark eye stripe can resemble a bald eagle’s, but the osprey’s smaller size and consistently white underparts make the two easy to tell apart once you know what to look for.
Eleven species, four hunting styles, and habitats ranging from Blue Ridge ridgelines to Chesapeake Bay marshes make Virginia one of the more rewarding states for hawk watching on the East Coast. Learning the buteo, accipiter, harrier, and osprey groups first gives a solid foundation, and the finer field marks within each group come with practice and repeated sightings. Anyone building a broader appreciation for the state’s wildlife might also enjoy exploring the wider list of animals native to Virginia or checking which raptors appear on the state’s list of endangered and at-risk species, since habitat pressures affecting hawks often touch other wildlife too.