Birds Flora Fauna Ecosystems



Seguinos en Facebook

 

     
  Check List Buscador de Aves
Bay-winged Hawk
Parabuteo unicinctus

DESCRIPTION:
Bay-winged Hawk
Gavilán Mixto
Parabuteo unicinctus
Length: 480mm (male), 550mm (female). Sexes alike. Bill slate grey with black tip; cere, lores and eyelid yellow; iris chestnut; upper part of forehead white, remainder of forehead, head, neck, back and scapulars, breast, abdomen and flanks blackish brown; in cheeks, malar region and abdomen the blackish brown is mixed with whitish. Upper and undertail coverts white; rectrices black and white to base, with a white terminal band. Lesser and median wing coverts reddish, median coverts with outer vexillum blackish brown; greater coverts and secondaries dark blackish brown; primaries blackish brown; underwing coverts and axillaries rufous; thighs reddish. Legs yellow. Juveniles: throat whitish; head, neck, breast, flanks and abdomen buffy ochraceous with dark brown spots; back and scapulars dark brown dotted with buffy ochraceous; uppertail and undertail coverts are cream buff to whitish; rectrices brownish grey with abundant fine dark brown barring. Lesser wing coverts dark brown with buffy reddish margins; greater and median coverts buffy red with dark brown spots; secondaries and primaries brownish grey with dark brown fine banding; thighs are buffy with reddish spots. Legs greenish. Bill as in adults but with a greenish cere. Similar species: adults are readily identified by their coloration, unlike the immature, whose plumage may be easily confused with juveniles of other hawk species; in Patagonia it is commonly mistaken for the Red-backed Hawk (Buteo polyosoma). The most useful details for identification are that the Bay-winged Hawk has shorter wings, longer tail, the thigh feathers are shorter, the tarsi longer and the upperwing coverts are uniform buffy white. Habitat and behaviour: found in open fields with trees, thickets and forests, river margins with abundant vegetation and savannahs. It flies with quick continuous wing beats interspersed with brief glides. It may be seen in pairs or sometimes in small groups, preferably perching in the uppermost and hidden branches of trees.
Nests consist of platforms placed in the middle or topmost branches, concealed by foliage; females lay up to four whitish eggs. Whenever there is a small group near the nest, chicks are fed by parents and also by individuals of the group.
Range: broadly distributed, this species occurs from southern United States, all along South America to Argentina, where it is found in the north. In Patagonia, it is rather scarce. Late in the 1960s, the authors observed several individuals and collected one adult specimen at Paso Flores, close to the Limay River, Río Negro. At a later date they spotted an individual south of Viedma, also in Río Negro, and northwest of Chubut. It would seem, as is the case with many other species, that its population is expanding southwards; it is currently one of the most common species in the region, from Neuquén all over
the west of Río Negro and northwest of Chubut, reaching Cholila or even farther. In Chile it occurs from Arica to Aysén.
Illustrated Handbook of the Birds of Patagonia
Kindless: Kovacs Family
 
SHARE THIS:
 
 

Photographs: Mariano Diez Peña


Birding Patagonia • Birdwatcing in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina and Chile.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction of photographs is forbidden without permission from the authors.
Photographs on the website: Mariano Diez Peña