Uncommon bird of forests, wetlands, and mangroves, it is generally much less abundant than the very similar Lesser Black Hawk. It is slightly larger and more elongated than the latter, with longer tail and legs. Adults of both species have very distinct calls in flight. The adult of the Greater Black Hawk has two bars on the tail (only one in the Lesser), and less yellow on the face. The juvenile has more white on the face than the Lesser (without large black whiskers), and its longer tail has narrower and more numerous pale bars. Generally, it is more wary than the Lesser, which usually does not pay attention to people.
Order: Accipitriformes | Family: Accipitridae
Scientific name: Buteogallus urubitinga
Common name: Aguililla Negra Mayor, Great black hawk
Conservation status: Least concern (LC)
Best season for great black hawk: All year round
Feature
The adult great black hawk is almost completely black, with long yellow tarsi. The tail is mostly black with a broad white median band (ridgwayi, the northern subspecies) or has a wide basal half that is white and a wide distal half that is black (urubitinga, the southern subspecies); but in all populations, when viewed from below in flight, the tail often appears black with a single white band, due to the black undertail coverts. The upper tail coverts are white.
Distribution
The great black hawk is found from northern Mexico southward, west of the Andes, to northwestern Peru and, east of the Andes, to northern Argentina.
Habitat
The great black hawk is found in a variety of forests and humid open fields, usually not far from water (Clark and Schmitt 2017). In Venezuela, the great black hawk is a common resident along rivers and meanders in lowland humid forests, typically below 500 m (Hilty 2003).
