From Opus

Buteo albicaudatus

Photo by HelenB
Photo of a pale morph taken near the Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR, near Eagle Lake, SE Texas.

Photo by Deca
Photo of a pale morph in flight taken at Gonçalves, MG, Brazil.

Photo by onlybill
Photo of a juvenile taken at Brazoria NWR, Texas.

[edit] Identification

A bulky hawk with a short white tail with a black sub-terminal band. The common pale morph has white underparts and rump, dark gray back and rusty-colored shoulder patches. The rarer dark morph is, except for the tail, almost entirely brownish-black. Juveniles are mainly blackish with variable whitish markings on the underparts and head.

[edit] Distribution

South-eastern Texas, through Central America, and most of South America east of the Andes as far south as central Argentina. It is absent from densely forested regions (e.g. most of the Amazon).

[edit] Taxonomy

Three subspecies are recognized¹: albicaudatus, colonus, and hypospodius. Avibase² mentions one additional subspecies sennetti?

There has been a proposal to treat this species and Variable Hawk as a superspecies³.

[edit] Habitat

Open or semi-open habitats.

[edit] Behaviour

The White-tailed Hawk flies against the wind without flapping and usually takes sun baths, ruffling its feathers, which can somehow resemble the Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus). It feeds on insects, reptiles, mammals, amphibians or even smaller birds. Can be seen near roads, where, like the Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus), it waits for roadkilled prey.

[edit] References

1. Clements, James F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2007. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801445019
2. Avibase entry read in August 2008
3. SACC note for Buteo albicaudatus read in August 2008

[edit] External Links