Roadside Hawk: how to recognise it
A bird of North America and South America. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © floris_heemskerk · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Rupornis magnirostris
- Family
- Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
- Size
- About 36 cm
- Habitat
- Open country, farmland and towns
- Found in
- North America and South America
The key marks
Small, slim hawk, grey-brown above with a grey-brown breast, a barred rusty belly, a rufous patch in the wing in flight and a banded tail. Red-shouldered Hawk is much bigger, with bright orange barring below and black-and-white checkered wings.
Voice
A loud, shrill, whistled scream.
Good to know
It often sits on posts, wires and trees by roads and in towns, hunting lizards, insects and small birds.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Red-shouldered Hawk. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in open country, farmland and towns. It is especially common in Colombia and Brazil. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.