COMMON NAME: Gray Hawk
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Asturina nitida
IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS
The gray hawk is a small buteo 15 inches in length, with a wingspan of 35 inches. It has broad, rounded wings, a hooked beak, a short, broad tail, and a yellow cere and legs. The adult has Gray upperparts barred gray and white; a dark tail with two white bands, one wider than the other; white uppertail coverts, and pale underwings. The sexes are similar. Immature gray hawks have dark brown, heavily streaked upperparts, white supercilium contrasting with dark eyeline, a dark malar streak, and a brown tail with numerous darker bands.
The gray and white plumage of the adult gray hawk is similar only to the adult male hook-billed kite, but the kite has a larger bill, more boldly marked primaries, and darker underwings. The immature gray hawk is similar to an immature broad-winged hawk and immature accipiters but has white uppertail coverts, stronger face pattern, and more bands on the tail.
RANGE
Extreme southern United States, Mexico, Central and northern South America
HABITAT
Forest, open woodland, savannah with clumps of trees. Wide diversity from wet forest fringes to extensive dry wooded areas, preferably near water.
NESTING
The gray hawk builds a small nest of twigs lined with green leaves, usually well-hidden in a fork or side branch of a tall evergreen – but nest sites vary from mesquite to cottonwood. The hawk incubates a clutch size of one to three eggs for 32 days. The young take 30 to 42 days to fledge.
FEEDING HABITS
The gray hawk’s diet is mostly lizards, some small snakes, large insects, frogs, birds, and small mammals.
Information obtained from:
Other Web Resources
Patuxent Bird Population Studies
Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter