Broad-Winged Hawk
Buteo platypterus
Aves › Accipitriformes › Accipitridae › Buteo
Conservation status: least_concern
This is a relatively small hawk belonging to the Buteo genus. It is a carnivore whose diet varies by season, including insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. The hawk uses its wings to catch prey, sometimes giving special attention to preparing the food for consumption.
How To Identify
It is a large hawk with notably broad and expansive wings relative to its body size. Its coloration consists mainly of muted browns, grays, and creamy whites.
Habitat
This hawk typically inhabits deciduous and mixed forests, woodlands, and forest edges across eastern North America, from southern Canada through Central America to northern South America.
Behaviour
Broad-winged Hawks are sit-and-wait hunters that perch quietly on branches to scan for small prey like frogs, lizards, and rodents before diving down to capture them.
Native Range
Broad-winged hawks have a wide range in North America and South America, from southern Canada to southern Brazil.
Did You Know?
Enormous flocks of soaring broad-winged hawks are called kettles and are characteristic of many hawk migration spectacles in North America, such as at Hawk Cliff in Ontario or Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania.
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