Mangrove Black-Hawk

The mangrove Black-hawk (Buteogallus subtilis) is a chunky bird with broad wings and a short, ample tail. You can find it mostly near water: coastal mangroves, beaches, mudflats, rivers, swamps and marshes. It eats mainly crabs, that’s why it’s popularly known as “Gavilán Cangrejero”. You can find it from SW USA and West Indies to NW Peru and Guyana.

56cm (22”), 800g. Slate-black; with paler mottling at base of primaries below. A single, broad white tail band ( sometimes one more incomplete at base of tail. Iris brown; cere, lores and legs yellow. Young: Above Brown flecked with buff; head and underparts buff, heavily streaked with black; tail coarsely barred with white or buff and blackish.