Broad-winged Hawk

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

Related Birds

Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Gray Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk

General

Broad-winged Hawk: Medium-sized hawk with dark brown, mottled upperparts and brown-barred, white underparts. Pale underwings with back margins are visible in flight. Tail is dark banded. Female is larger. Juvenile has narrower tail bands and brown-streaked underparts.

Range and Habitat

Broad-winged Hawk: Occurs north from Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south through North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa to eastern Texas, through the Gulf coast to northern Florida; not found west of the Rockies. Preferred habitats include dense deciduous and mixed woodlands, often near openings created by roads, trails, or wetlands.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"peeteeee", "peweeeeee"

Interesting Facts

Research has shown that Broad-winged Hawks typically migrate about 4,300 miles, covering an average of 70 miles each day.

A subspecies of this hawk, generally found only in Puerto Rico, is endangered and has a total population of about 100 birds.

During migration, weather and geography cause these birds to concentrate into groups that number in the thousands. These large groups are referred to as “kettles.”

A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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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.

Broad-winged Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk: Medium hawk, dark brown, mottled upperparts and brown-barred, white underparts. Pale underwings with black margins visible in flight. Tail is dark banded. Feeds on amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and birds, large insects. Flap-and-glide flight, soars on thermals and updrafts.

● Song: "peeteeee", "peweeeeee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Broad-winged Hawk: Diet consists of insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Mammals are eaten entirely, while frogs and snakes are skinned, and birds are plucked. Hunts from a perch, swooping down to capture prey on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Broad-winged Hawk: Two to four white to pale blue eggs, sometimes marked with brown, are laid in a nest made of dead sticks and fresh sprigs, lined with bark chips, and built in the crotch of a deciduous tree. Sometimes renovates nests of other species. Incubation ranges from 28 to 31 days and is carried out by the female; male brings food to her during incubation.

● Similar species: Broad-winged Hawk: Red-shouldered Hawk is larger with less rounded wings and rust-brown shoulders.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals., Several rapid shallow wing beats followed by glide.

● Range & Habitat: Broad-winged Hawk: Occurs north from Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south through North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa to eastern Texas, through the Gulf coast to northern Florida; not found west of the Rockies. Preferred habitats include dense deciduous and mixed woodlands, often near openings created by roads, trails, or wetlands.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationCommon in E. US & S. Canada

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight14.8 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America