Broad-winged Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk: Medium hawk, dark brown, mottled upperparts and brown-barred, white underparts. Pale underwings with black margins visible in flight. Tail is dark banded. Feeds on amphibians, reptiles, small mammals and birds, large insects. Flap-and-glide flight, soars on thermals and updrafts.
● Song:
"peeteeee", "peweeeeee"
● Foraging & Feeding:
Broad-winged Hawk: Diet consists of insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. Mammals are eaten entirely, while frogs and snakes are skinned, and birds are plucked. Hunts from a perch, swooping down to capture prey on the ground.
● Breeding & nesting:
Broad-winged Hawk: Two to four white to pale blue eggs, sometimes marked with brown, are laid in a nest made of dead sticks and fresh sprigs, lined with bark chips, and built in the crotch of a deciduous tree. Sometimes renovates nests of other species. Incubation ranges from 28 to 31 days and is carried out by the female; male brings food to her during incubation.
● Similar species:
Broad-winged Hawk: Red-shouldered Hawk is larger with less rounded wings and rust-brown shoulders.
● Range & Habitat:
Broad-winged Hawk: Occurs north from Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south through North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa to eastern Texas, through the Gulf coast to northern Florida; not found west of the Rockies. Preferred habitats include dense deciduous and mixed woodlands, often near openings created by roads, trails, or wetlands.