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Broad-winged Hawk

Buteo platypterusOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)
Broad-winged Hawk Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: Hooked
  • Eye Color: Juvenile gray or pale light brown, turning brown late in year. In light morph bird, cinnamon or amber to buffy brown, red in dark morph birds.
  • Head Pattern: Eyeline, Streaked
  • Crown Color: Brown
  • Forehead Color: Dark Brown
  • Nape Color: Brown
  • Throat Color: White
  • Cere color: Yellow
Broad-winged Hawk Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 33-48 cm (13-19 in)
  • Weight: 419 g (14.8 oz)
  • Size: Size 4. Large (16 - 32 in)
  • Color: White, Brown, Rufous or Rust
  • Underparts: White with brown streaking.
  • Upperparts: Mottled dark brown.
  • Back Pattern: Solid, Scaled or Scalloped
  • Belly Pattern: Barred or banded
  • Breast Pattern: Barred or banded
Broad-winged Hawk Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Soars on thermals., Several rapid shallow wing beats followed by glide.
  • Wingspan Range: 81-99 cm (32-39 in)
  • Wing Shape: Broad-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Squared Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Large black and white bands.
  • Upper Tail: Black and white.
  • Under Tail: White
  • Leg Color: Yellow
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Family Hawk (Accipitridae)_blue
Species Buteo platypterus
Length13 - 19 Inches
Wingspan35.5 Inches

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.
Broad-winged Hawk Body Illustration
● 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