Common black hawk

The common black hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures. It formerly included the Cuban black-hawk (Buteogallus gundlachii) as a subspecies. The mangrove black hawk, traditionally considered a distinct species, is now generally considered a subspecies, B. a. subtilis, of the common black-hawk.[3]

Common black hawk
Buteo. anthracinus subtilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Buteogallus
Species:
B. anthracinus
Binomial name
Buteogallus anthracinus
(Deppe, 1830)
Subspecies[2]
  • B. a. anthracinus - (Deppe, 1830)
  • B. a. utilensis - Twomey, 1956
  • B. a. rhizophorae - Monroe, 1963
  • B. a. bangsi - (Swann, 1922)
  • B. a. subtilis - (Thayer & Bangs, 1905)

Description

The adult common black-hawk is 43–53 cm (17–21 in) long and weighs 930 g (33 oz) on average. It has very broad wings, and is mainly black or dark gray. The short tail is black with a single broad white band and a white tip. The bill is black and the legs and cere are yellow. The adults resemble zone-tailed hawks, but have fewer white bars on their tail and are larger in size.

Sexes are similar, but immature birds are dark brown above with spotting and streaks. Their underparts are buff to whitish with dark blotches, and the tail has a number of black and white bars.

Distribution and habitat

The common black-hawk is a breeding bird in the warmer parts of the Americas, from the Southwestern United States through Central America to Venezuela, Peru, Trinidad, and the Lesser Antilles. It is a mainly coastal, resident bird of mangrove swamps, estuaries and adjacent dry open woodland, though there are inland populations, including a migratory population in north-western Mexico and Arizona.

Behaviour

Breeding

The bird builds a platform nest of sticks fifteen to one hundred feet above the ground in a tree, often a mangrove. Nests are often reused and tend to grow bigger. It lays one to three eggs (usually one), which are whitish with brown markings.

Has hybridized naturally with Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) in Sonoma County, California, USA.[4] This natural hybridization between different genera of hawks is rare.

Feeding

It feeds mainly on crabs, but will also take small vertebrates and eggs. This species is often seen soaring, with occasional lazy flaps, and has a talon-touching aerial courtship display. The call is a distinctive piping spink-speenk-speenk-spink-spink-spink.

Status and conservation

The common black hawk is protected in the far north of its range (in the USA) under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.[5]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Buteogallus anthracinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2020. IOC World Bird List (v10.2). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.10.2.
  3. Clark, W.S. (2007). "Taxonomic status and distribution of Mangrove Black Hawk Buteogallus (anthracinus) subtilis". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 127 (2): 110–117.
  4. Moore S, Coulson JO (March 2020). "Intergeneric hybridization of a vagrant Common Black Hawk and a Red-shouldered Hawk". Journal of Raptor Research. 54 (1): 74–80. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. "Migratory Bird Treaty Act Protected Species". U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
  • ffrench, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton; Eckelberry, Don R. (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Ithaca, N.Y.: Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
  • Howell, Steve N.G.; Webb, Sophie (1995). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854012-4.
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