Great Black Hawk

Overview

The great black hawk is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is a resident breeding bird throughout the tropical New World, ranging from Mexico to northern Argentina.

Identification

• Adults are 56 to 64 cm long, mainly black with very broad wings and a short white tail with a broad black tip.
• The bill is black, while the legs and cere are yellow.
• Immature birds are dark brown above with spotting and streaks, and buff underparts with dark spots.
• The call is a distinctive piping 'ooo-wheeeeee'.

Habitat

It is a mainly coastal bird, but also inhabits forests and open woodland near water. Its range extends from Mexico through Central America to Peru, Tobago and northern Argentina.

Diet

It feeds on a varied diet including reptiles, small vertebrates, crabs, large insects, carrion, eggs, and fruits. It often hunts on foot and has been observed soaring above woodlands or raiding hoatzin nesting colonies for eggs and chicks along Amazon rivers.

Did you know?

A vagrant individual was ranked as the number one 'Craziest Vagrant of 2018' by the American Birding Association for travelling from South Padre Island, Texas, to Maine, where it was eventually euthanised due to extensive frostbite.