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Gray Hawk

Asturina nitidaOrder: FALCONIFORMESFamily: Kites, Eagles and Hawks (Accipitridae)
Gray Hawk Portrait
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Range Map for Gray Hawk

Overview

Gray Hawk: Small tropical hawk with uniformly pale gray upperparts and fine white barring on underparts. Cere is yellow. Tail is thickly banded black and white. Wing tips are rounded. Legs and feet are yellow. Bouyant, graceful flap-and-glide flight, soars on thermals often but not to great heights.

Range and Habitat

Gray Hawk: Enters the United States in southeastern Arizona where it is restricted to tall cottonwood forests along a few streams.

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Listen:

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Voice Text

"kah-lee-oh"

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Related Birds:

White-tailed Kite
Broad-winged Hawk
Common Black-Hawk
Hook-billed Kite
.

Copyright © 2005 WBFI Research Foundation Bird database and its related content and media is Copyright (C) 2002 - 2005 Mitch Waite Group All rights reserved.

Family
Species Asturina nitida
Length14 - 18 Inches
Wingspan35 Inches

Gray Hawk

Gray Hawk: Small tropical hawk with uniformly pale gray upperparts and fine white barring on underparts. Cere is yellow. Tail is thickly banded black and white. Wing tips are rounded. Legs and feet are yellow. Bouyant, graceful flap-and-glide flight, soars on thermals often but not to great heights.

● Song: "kah-lee-oh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Gray Hawk: Mostly perches then captures lizards with fast, incredibly agile flights. Also eats small birds and rodents. Prey is captured on the ground or snagged from branches.

● Breeding & nesting: Gray Hawk: Accompanied by loud calling, a pair builds a stick nest high in tall trees. Lays 2 to 3 white to blue eggs with brown markings. Incubated by female for 32 days. Young fledge in 42 days.

● Similar species: Gray Hawk: Male light morph Hook-billed Kite has much larger bill. Juvenile resembles juvenile Broad-winged Hawk but has much bolder face pattern and longer tail.

Flight Pattern

Rapid shallow wingbeats and incredibly agile maneuvering in forests.
Gray Hawk Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Gray Hawk: Enters the United States in southeastern Arizona where it is restricted to tall cottonwood forests along a few streams.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight18 - 19 Ounces