That loud, repeated hawk call coming from a neighborhood pine may belong to one of Florida’s most common raptors: the Red-shouldered Hawk.

Red-shouldered Hawks live in Florida year-round and are especially common around wooded areas near water, including pine, oak and cypress habitat, suburban neighborhoods, road edges and power-line corridors.

Florida birds can look paler than Red-shouldered Hawks farther north. Adults show reddish barring across the chest, rusty shoulders and strongly banded black-and-white tails.

Juveniles are browner and streakier, without the rich reddish adult pattern.

Their piercing call is one of the best clues because these hawks are often heard before they are spotted.

Watch how they hunt. Red-shouldered Hawks often sit upright on a branch or utility perch, scanning the ground for frogs, snakes, lizards, small mammals and other prey.

They also soar in circles above neighborhoods and wooded wetlands.

Breeding in Florida generally runs from late winter through spring, with pairs often returning to successful nesting territories year after year.

During nesting season, adults may dive toward people or pets that get too close to the nest. The best response is usually to give the area more room rather than trying to remove the bird.

Red-shouldered Hawks and active nests are protected under federal migratory-bird law and Florida law.

The easy identification: a medium-sized hawk with a loud call, reddish barred chest and strongly banded tail in a wooded Florida neighborhood is very often a Red-shouldered Hawk.