Ferruginous Hawks are large Buteo hawks with relatively long wings and large heads. The wings narrow to form more pointed tips than is typical for other buteos.

The ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) is a large bird of prey and belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. An old colloquial name is ferrugineous rough-leg, [2] due to its similarity to the closely related rough-legged hawk (B. lagopus). The generic name buteo is Latin for 'buzzard'. [3]

Ferruginous Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks (plus the Golden Eagle) are the only American hawks to have feathered legs all the way down to their toes. Ferruginous means rust-colored, and refers to the reddish back and legs of light-morph birds …

This regal bird is the largest of our soaring Buteo hawks, a fitting raptor for the wide skies and windswept plains of the west. It soars with its broad wings held in a shallow V, and swoops down to catch ground squirrels, snakes, young jackrabbits, and other good-sized prey.

The Ferruginous Hawk occurs only in North America, from southwestern Canada through the western United States and into northern Mexico. It haunts arid, open country, including short-grass prairie, sagebrush, deserts with short vegetation, and nearby agricultural areas.

Ferruginous Hawks are very large, broad-winged hawks with two distinguished types of plumage referred to as light morphs and dark morphs. Light morph Ferruginous Hawks are distinguishable by their white under parts with intermingled gray or brownish speckling, and a dark brownish V on the underside directly in front of the tail.

Large raptor of dry open country; light morph much more common than dark morph. Light adult distinctly rufous above with blue-gray flight feathers, white breast, and rufous barring on sides. Tail very pale with light rufous upperside. Light juvenile lacks rufous tones of adult but still shows pale tail and clean white breast.

The Ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis) is a large bird of prey and belongs to the broad-winged buteo hawks. An old colloquial name of this majestic bird is Ferrugineous rough-leg, due to its similarity to the closely related Rough-legged hawk.

Ferruginous Hawks are open-country birds that breed in grasslands, sagebrush country, saltbush-greasewood shrublands, and edges of pinyon-juniper forests at low to moderate elevations. Their breeding habitat includes features such as cliffs, outcrops, and tree groves for nesting.

The ferruginous hawk is the largest buteo in North America, with a length of 20 to 25 inches and a wingspan of 53 to 56 inches. These hawks have short, dark, hooked beaks and extremely long, yellow gapes that extend to below the eye.