Birds of Ecuador

    ACCIPITRIFORMES: Accipitridae (Kites, Hawks, Eagles)  
Genus: Buteo (7 species, 28 worldwide)

Genus Buteo are hawks with longer wings and shorter tails than Accipiter hawks, and are more suited for hunting outside the forest, and for soaring.


White-throated Hawk
White-throated Hawk (Buteo albigula)
Peru  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Migrates north to the Andes of central and northern South America in the austral winter.

Zone-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus)
Arizona, United States  
   
Photograph by Andy Reago     Copyright and usage info

Zone-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus)
Lagunillas, Guerrero, Mexico  
   
Photograph by Stephen J. Davies   © All Rights Reserved.

A black hawk that may confuse prey by looking similar to a Black Vulture.

Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus) Male
 
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Short-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus fuliginosus) Female
  Dark morph.
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.


Galapagos Hawk
Galapagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) Immature Vulnerable ENDEMIC
Rabida Island, Galapagos, Ecuador  
   
Photograph by Mark Putney     Copyright and usage info

A large heavy hawk, similar to North American species like the Swainson's Hawk, from which it may have evolved.

Grey-lined Hawk
Grey-lined Hawk (Buteo nitidus pallidus)
Brazil  
   
Photograph by João Sérgio Barros F. de Souza   © All Rights Reserved.

Grey-lined Hawk
Grey-lined Hawk (Buteo nitidus nitidus) Immature
French Guiana  
   
Photograph by Michel GIRAUD-AUDINE   © All Rights Reserved.



Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
Minca, Magdalena, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Northern migrant. A medium-sized hawk that is relatively common and often returns yearly to the same spot. Broad-winged hawks migrate in 'kettles' of many hundreds, sometimes with Turkey Vultures or Swainson's Hawks. Immatures have drop shaped vertical spotting, while adults are barred horizontally.
From below.
Perched, from back.
Immature.

Swainson's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)
Arizona, United States
  An 'pale morph' adult male with a dark chest, the most common plumage. Others are all brown (dark morph) or brown with rufous belly (reddish morph) (HBW).
   
Photograph by Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith     Copyright and usage info

Swainson's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) Immature
Saguache County, Colorado, USA
  An immature missing the dark chest.
   
Photograph by Calibas     Copyright and usage info

A large (55 cm.) northern migrant hawk that migrates far south, sometimes in groups of hundreds. From the ground compare to White-tailed Hawk but note long pointed wings, and additional thin bands on tail that might be hard to see from ground.


© Tom Friedel - All Rights Reserved, except for images and data otherwise noted.       Colombia       Panama       Ecuador       Costa Rica       Mexico
Experimental sites:       Peru       Venezuela       The World       Brazil       Bolivia
Really Experimental sites:       Guyana       Cuba