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Roadside Hawk

Buteo magnirostrisOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)

Roadside Hawk Portrait_2
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General

Roadside Hawk: This small, long legged tropical species common from Mexico to Argentina is casual in winter to the Rio Grande Valley. Gray-brown upperparts and rufous belly with white to buff coarse bars. Tail is banded. Flies with stiff, rapid wingbeats and hunts along roadsides. Female is similar but larger and juvenile is paler overall. Deforestation in the tropics has helped this bird to thrive as it produces more favorable hunting grounds.

Range and Habitat

Roadside Hawk: Tropical species, casual in winter in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Prefers plantations, second-growth woods and field edges. Often perches low on roadside fence posts or trees.

Voice Text

"KREE-yurr", "meeahhh"

Interesting Facts

  • With the possible exception of dense forests, the Roadside Hawk is well adapted to most ecosystemsin its range.
  • There is significant plumage variation depending on the subspecies.
  • A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.


Author

Jane Wright Splitbar
Range Map for Roadside Hawk
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Buteo magnirostris
Length13 - 16 Inches
Wingspan29 Inches

Roadside Hawk

Roadside Hawk: This small, long legged tropical species common from Mexico to Argentina is casual in winter to the Rio Grande Valley. Gray-brown upperparts and rufous belly with white to buff coarse bars. Tail is banded with white tip. Flies with stiff, rapid wingbeats and hunts along roadsides.

● Song: "KREE-yurr", "meeahhh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Roadside Hawk: Eats large insects, reptiles and small mammals which it finds on roadsides and field edges.

● Breeding & nesting: Roadside Hawk: Two white eggs speckled with brown are laid in a nest built by both sexes of sticks, in trees 20-60 feet above ground. Incubations is 21-27 days primarily by the female.

● Similar species: Roadside Hawk: Broad-winged Hawk has a shorter dark tail with wide white bands. Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile is larger and shows a narrow pale panel across base of outer primaries in flight.

Flight Pattern

Stiff rapid wing beats and short glides.
Roadside Hawk Body Illustration_2
● Range & Habitat: Roadside Hawk: Tropical species, casual in winter in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Prefers plantations, second-growth woods and field edges. Often perches low on roadside fence posts or trees.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationCommon in range
MigrationMigratory
Weight24 Ounces