Grey-lined hawk

Grey-lined hawk
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Subfamily: Buteoninae
Genus: Buteo
Species: B. nitidus
Binomial name
Buteo nitidus
Synonyms

Asturina nitida

The grey-lined hawk (Buteo nitidus) is a smallish raptor found in open country and forest edges. It is sometimes placed in the genus Asturina as Asturina nitida. The species has been split by the AOU from the grey hawk. The grey-lined hawk is found from southern Costa Rica to Argentina.

The grey-lined hawk is 46–61 cm (18–24 in) in length and weighs 475 g (16.8 oz) average. The adult has a pale grey body, the tail is black with three white bands and the legs are orange. It has fine white barring on the upper parts.

Immature birds have dark brown upperparts, a pale-banded brown tail, brown-spotted white underparts and a brown streaked buff head and neck. This species is quite short-winged, and has a fast agile flight for a Buteo.

Juvenile
Cristalino River, South Amazon, Brazil

It feeds mainly on lizards and snakes, but will also take small mammals, birds and frogs. It usually sits on an open high perch from which it swoops on its prey, but will also hunt from a low glide. The nest is of sticks and built high in a tree. The usual clutch is one to three, usually two white to pale blue eggs.[2] The young take about 6 weeks to fledging.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Buteo nitidus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. "Animal Diversity (Asturina nitida)". Retrieved 2008-06-26.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.