Savanna Hawk

Buteogallus meridionalis (Latham, 1790)

Savanna Hawk, Buteogallus meridionalis, is a bird of open savanna and swamp margins in Middle America and South America, breeding from Panama to northern Argentina. It is a large raptor in the hawk family, first described by Latham in 1790. Adults show a rufous body, grey patterning on the upperparts, black-banded tail and yellow legs, while young birds are duller above with paler underparts and a whitish eyebrow. It has long broad wings, perches upright, and nests in a palm tree on a stick platform lined with grass.

Order

Accipitriformes

Family

Accipitridae — Kites, Hawks, Eagles

Breeding range

Middle America, South America: Panama to n Argentina