Scientific Name:   Buteo platypterus

Length:   13.4-17.3 in (34-44 cm)

Weight:   9.3-19.8 oz (265-560 g)

Wingspan:   31.9-39.4 in (81-100 cm)

Nest:   It is a rather small platform of sticks, lined with softer materials such as bark and moss. Leafy green twigs often added during nesting cycle. Often uses pre-existing nest of hawk, crow, or squirrel, adding material to it.

Eggs:   Usually 2-3, sometimes 1-4. Whitish, usually spotted with brown. Incubation is almost entirely by female, 28-31 days.

Feeding Behavior:   They hunt small animals from perches underneath the forest canopy such as, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds. Varied diet includes mice, voles, squirrels, other small mammals; toads, frogs, snakes, lizards, young turtles; various small birds; large insects. When prey is spotted, the hawk swoops down rapidly to capture the creature in its talons.

Young:   Female remains with young almost constantly for first 1-2 weeks after they hatch; male brings food, and female feeds it to nestlings. Young may climb out of nest onto nearby branches at about 4-5 weeks; can fly at about 5-6 weeks, and soon start learning to hunt.

Range:   Living in forests and spend much of their time underneath the canopy. On migration they soar along coastlines and mountain ridges, often in very large flocks. Going to South America for the winter. Migrates in flocks. Birds from throughout the east travel southwest or south to go around, not across, the Gulf of Mexico.

Brief Description:   Adult Broad-winged Hawks have reddish-brown heads, barred underparts, and broad black and white bands on the tail. The pale undersides of the wings are bordered in dark brown. Juveniles are lighter brown with coarse streaking on the underparts, particularly on the sides of the breast; the tail is narrowly banded.