White-tailed hawk

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White-tailed hawk
Adult at Salvador Zoo, Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Geranoaetus
Species:
G. albicaudatus
Binomial name
Geranoaetus albicaudatus
(Vieillot, 1816)
Subspecies[2]
  • G. a. hypospodius - (Gurney Sr, 1876)
  • G. a. colonus - (Berlepsch, 1892)
  • G. a. albicaudatus - (Vieillot, 1816)
Synonyms

Buteo albicaudatus

The white-tailed hawk (Geranoaetus albicaudatus) is a large

subtropical environments of the Americas
.

Description

The white-tailed hawk is a large, stocky

cere is pale green, the beak is black with a horn-colored base, and the feet are yellow with black talons.[4]

Immature birds are somewhat darker than adults; they may appear nearly black in faint light, particularly individuals who have little white below. The wing lining is conspicuously spotted black-and-white; the rusty shoulder patch is absent in younger birds. The tail changes from brown with several dark bars to greyish with a hazy dark band as the bird approaches maturity. The bare parts are colored much like in the adult.[4]

In the

red-backed hawks (Geranoaetus polyosoma).[4]

Call

Its call is a high-pitched cackling ke ke ke..., with a tinkling quality that reminds some of the bleating of a goat or the call of the laughing gull.[4]

Subspecies

Three subspecies are known:[4]

Image Subspecies Description Distribution
Geranoaetus albicaudatus hypospodius Intermediate in size and coloration. No dark
morph
.		 coastal Texas and the Rio Grande Valley[5] through Middle America to northern Colombia and western Venezuela.
Geranoaetus albicaudatus colonus Small and pale. Dark morph is ashy grey all over, except for the tail and underwing coverts; sometimes extensively marked rufous on the underside. Dark-morph immatures are sometimes black all over, except for the tail. Eastern Colombia to Suriname south to the mouth of the Amazon River, extending into the Caribbean.
Geranoaetus albicaudatus albicaudatus Large and dark; throat usually black (except in western Argentina). The dark morph appears blackish above, blackish-brown below. Southern Amazon rainforest to central Argentina

Distribution and ecology

Adult B. a. hypospodius at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, USA
Adult, SE Brazil

The white-tailed hawk can be found anywhere from

arid habitats and rarely occurs in very rainy locales.[4]

Though it will disappear from unsuitable locations after

IUCN.[6]

Its preferred hunting technique is to hover and observe the surroundings for signs of potential prey, gliding to another place when nothing is found. The diet of the white-tailed hawk varies with its environment.

brushfires to catch small animals fleeing the flames.[8] In the tropics, white-tailed hawks rank amongst the main predators of the small monkeys known as marmosets.[9]

Breeding pairs of white-tailed hawks build nests out of freshly broken twigs, often of

parasites. Like many Accipitridae, white-tailed hawks do not like to abandon a nest site, and nests built up over the years can thus reach sizes of up to three feet (1 m) across. The eggs are white, often lightly spotted with brown or lavender; between one and three (usually two) are laid per clutch. When approached on the nest, the adults will get airborne and observe the intruder from above, unlike related hawks, which usually wait much longer to flush and then launch a determined attack.[4]

Footnotes

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22695906A169001701.en
    . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2020. IOC World Bird List (v10.2). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.10.2.
  3. ISBN 0-7136-8026-1
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e f g HCT (2008)
  5. ^
    Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
    . Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  6. ^ Faria et al. (2006), BLI (2008)
  7. ^ Ragusa-Netto (2000)
  8. ^ eNature (2007), HCT (2008)
  9. ^ "Callithrix kuhlii (Weid's black-tufted-ear marmoset)".

References

  • eNature (2007): White-tailed Hawk. Retrieved 2008-NOV-19.
  • Faria, Christiana M.A.; Rodrigues, Marcos; do Amaral, Frederico Q.; Módena, Érica & Fernandes, Alexandre M. (2006): Aves de um fragmento de Mata Atlântica no alto Rio Doce, Minas Gerais: colonização e extinção [The birds of an Atlantic Forest fragment at upper Rio Doce valley, Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil: colonization and extinction]. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 23(4): 1217-1230 [Portuguese with English abstract].
    doi:10.1590/S0101-81752006000400032 PDF fulltext
  • Hawk Conservancy Trust (HCT) (2008): White-tailed Hawk – Buteo albicaudatus. Version of 2008-NOV-19. Retrieved 2008-NOV-19.
  • Ragusa-Netto, J. (2000): Raptors and "campo-cerrado" bird mixed flock led by Cypsnagra hirundinacea (Emberizidae: Thraupinae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia 60(3): 461-467 [English with Portuguese abstract].
    PMID 11188872 PDF fulltext

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Geranoaetus albicaudatus.
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