Hawks in Utah: where to see them and how to identify them

Utah is home to roughly nine regularly occurring hawk species, spread across two groups that birders separate by body shape and hunting style.

The buteos are the broad-winged, soaring hawks you see circling over open country. In Utah these are the Red-tailed hawk (year-round, statewide), Swainson's hawk (spring and summer breeder, leaves for South America in fall), Ferruginous hawk (the largest, tied to sagebrush and prairie), and Rough-legged hawk (a winter visitor from the Arctic). The Broad-winged hawk passes through in small numbers on migration.

The accipiters are the short-winged, long-tailed hawks built for chasing birds through trees. Utah has the Cooper's hawk, the smaller Sharp-shinned hawk, and the larger Northern Goshawk, which favors high-elevation aspen and conifer forest in ranges like the Uinta Mountains.

The Northern Harrier is also widely called a hawk. It hunts low over marshes and fields with a white rump patch and a tilting, moth-like flight. Together these species mean you can find some kind of hawk in nearly every Utah habitat, from the Wasatch Front valleys to the Canyonlands rim.

For a deeper species profile, see our Hawks guide.

Your best bets are the Great Basin Desert on the west side and the Colorado Plateau on the east side. Red-tailed hawks perch along highways throughout the Wasatch Front valleys, so I-15 and rural state routes are reliable. Swainson's hawks prefer agricultural fields near Delta and Fillmore in Millard County, where they follow tractors for insects and rodents in summer. Cooper's and Sharp-shinned hawks stick to riparian areas and shade trees along the Weber, Provo, and Jordan rivers, and they regularly turn up in Salt Lake City neighborhoods hunting backyard songbirds.

Ferruginous hawks favor the open sagebrush flats of the West Desert and the country around the Great Salt Lake. Rough-legged hawks drop into the Cache Valley and other northern valleys in winter. Northern Goshawks stay in the high forests of the Uinta and Wasatch ranges. For a full habitat breakdown, visit the Hawks guide.

See our state wildlife page for the next step.

The best seasons are spring (March through May) and fall (August through October) during migration, when resident birds are joined by thousands moving along the western flyway. Early morning, roughly 6 to 9 AM, is prime because hawks ride thermals that build after the sun warms the ground. Strong afternoon winds can push them lower and harder to find.

Season changes which species you can expect. Swainson's hawks arrive in April and are gone by October. Rough-legged hawks replace them in winter, arriving from the Arctic around November and staying into March. Red-tailed and Ferruginous hawks are present all year. For the single biggest spectacle, the Goshute Mountains raptor count in late September and early October can log hundreds of migrating hawks in a single day. Check our state wildlife page for more seasonal birding tips.

See our Hawks guide for the next step.

Focus on tail color, wing shape, and how the bird flies. Red-tailed hawks have a brick-red upper tail in adults and a dark belly band across a pale chest, and they soar on broad wings. Swainson's hawks show a dark chest bib and pale wing linings that contrast with dark flight feathers, holding their wings in a shallow V. Ferruginous hawks are large and pale, with rusty leg feathers that form a dark V against a white belly when seen from below.

The accipiters look different. Cooper's hawks have a rounded, white-tipped tail and a flap-flap-glide flight, and the Sharp-shinned hawk is a smaller version with a squarer tail tip. Rough-legged hawks, seen mainly in winter, have a dark belly and a white tail base with a dark band, and they often hover in place while hunting. Compare photos on our Hawks guide.

See our state animal guide for the next step.

Top spots include Antelope Island State Park on the Great Salt Lake, where open shoreline and grassland draw Northern Harriers, Red-tailed hawks, and migrating Swainson's. The Goshute Mountains raptor migration site in the west desert, run by HawkWatch International, is the premier fall vantage point in the state and counts thousands of raptors each season. The riparian corridors and marshes of the Green River near Ouray National Wildlife Refuge are good for harriers and accipiters.

Other reliable areas include Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge north of Ogden, the farm country around Delta in summer for Swainson's, and the Cache Valley in winter for Rough-legged hawks. For real-time sightings near you, the free eBird platform lets you filter recent hawk reports by county. The widget below pulls live recommendations for Utah hawk watching.