Cascadia Animal Spotlight – Red-Tailed Hawks

February 18, 2025

Cascadia Digital is now available on Steam, Android, and iOS!

Cascadia reminds us about the interconnectedness of ecosystems and the importance of biodiversity, with wildlife being integral to the game’s essence. Take a look at each of the game’s five animals in our Animal Spotlight series!

The Red-Tailed Hawk

Welcome back to the Animal Spotlight! In our last article, we explored the underwater world of the Pacific Northwest with the Chinook Salmon. Today, we soar to dizzying heights to appreciate the Red-Tailed Hawk, watchful guardian of the skies.

The Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is one of North America’s most common bird species. It can be found throughout Cascadia, as well as throughout the continent. Its wingspan is about 50 inches. Red-tailed Hawks are “raptors,” or birds of prey, and they attack with a slow dive with their legs outstretched, which is different from a falcon, which swoops towards its prey.

Playing Red-Tailed Hawks in Cascadia

The Wildlife Scoring Cards for Red-Tailed Hawks reflect their nature as a solitary species — birds of prey who largely prefer to be on their own, save for matters of mating and territorial rivalry. That’s why, in Cascadia, you’re either placing Hawks solo, or in positions that maintain line of sight to each other. Fortunately, there’s a lot of flexibility in how you can place them; when Hawks appear in the draft area, you can almost always find a use for them.

Red-Tailed Hawk Tips

SCORING CARD A - SOLITARY

With the only requirement being that Hawks can’t be adjacent to each other, this is one of the most adaptable Scoring Cards in the game. This card gives you the flexibility to choose whether you want to play Hawks as a “backup” option when you don’t have better plays available, or to prioritize them and take advantage of their high point yields at high numbers.

SCORING CARD B - CONNECTED

This Scoring Card is functionally similar to the previous one, but with the added stipulation that Hawks need to maintain line of sight to each other. Nonetheless, this card has a higher points-per-Hawk ratio, making them a viable play in almost any situation. As long as you’re accounting for their positioning, this is a generous Scoring Card that’s forgiving if you don’t commit much to it, but rewarding if you do.

SCORING CARD B - NETWORK

The important thing here is not to be wasteful — Hawks can count for multiple lines of sight, so the best way to get mileage with this card is to ensure that each new Hawk you place connects to multiple others (or sets up positioning for the next one to do so). In the example picture above, you can see four Hawks scoring 9 points, the same amount that would be scored by three Hawks if they were placed in a triangle with lines of sight connecting each other.

SCORING CARD B - TERRITORIAL

A single pair of Hawks with three unique animals between them can score 9 points — that’s 4.5 points per Hawk, which is one of the highest-scoring combinations in the game! For that reason, quality over quantity is good to consider here; keep an eye out for opportunities to put distance between your Hawks!

Fun Hawk Scenarios in Cascadia Digital

Solo Scenario 7: This Solo Scenario invites you to score at least 20 points with Hawks using Scoring Card D. That means you’ll have to play six Hawks at minimum — more if you’re not being careful about positioning!

Solo Scenario 13: Hawks and Elk keep each other company in this scenario, which challenges players to place eight Elk, and at least five Hawks adjacent to their herd. A big part of Cascadia is positioning animal groups relative to each other to maximize point gain; this scenario might teach a thing or two about that!

Discover the Pacific Northwest

Ever in competition, Red-Tailed Hawks are rarely ever grouped together in Cascadia, and yet still prefer to keep eyes on each other, adding a unique dimension to the spatial puzzle that is the essence of each game.

Each animal brings its own unique flavor to the gameplay of Cascadia, and in our next and final Animal Spotlight, we’ll look at how the Red Fox brings its own wily charm to your Pacific Northwest habitat.

Cascadia Digital is now available on Android, iOS, and Steam. The hiking trail beckons — will you answer the call?

More Animal Spotlights