White hawk | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Accipitriformes |
Family: | Accipitridae |
Genus: | Pseudastur |
Species: | P. albicollis |
Binomial name | |
Pseudastur albicollis (Latham, 1790) | |
Subspecies [2] | |
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Synonyms | |
Leucopternis albicollis |
The white hawk (Pseudastur albicollis) is a bird of prey breeding in the tropical New World of the family Accipitridae. Though it is commonly placed in the subfamily Buteoninae, the validity of this group is doubtful and currently under review.
The adult white hawk ranges from 46–56 cm (18–22 in) long with very broad wings and has a white head, body and underwings. The upper wings are black, and the very short tail is black with a broad white band. The bill is black and the legs are yellow.
The sexes are similar, but females are larger and heavier—840 g (1.85 lb) compared to the male's 650 g (1.43 lb). Immature birds have extensive black spotting on the upperparts and dark-streaked whitish underparts.
The call of the white hawk is a plaintive kerwee.
There are four subspecies:
All subspecies look mainly white from below. The identity of the birds discovered in 2000/2001 in the Serranía de las Quinchas of central Colombia [3] is unclear.
The white hawk was described by John Latham: in English (1787) as the "white-necked falcon", [4] and in Latin (1790) as Falco albicollis, [5] with locality "Cayenne". Around 1850, Edward Blyth created the genus Pseudaster, with "Falco pæcilonotus Cuvier" as the type and "F.skotopterus Pr. Max." as a synonym. [6] In his Genera of Birds, Gray treats them both as Buteo s, listing B. albicollis in the main text and B. pæcilonotus in the index.
Peters' influential 1931 checklist placed the white hawk in Kaup's genus Leucopternis , listing five subspecies: L. albicollis albicollis, L. a. ghiesbrechti, L. a. costaricensis, L. a. occidentalis, and L. a. polionota. [7] During the 20th century, some authors treated the grey-backed hawk occidentalis as a subspecies of L. albicollis, whilst others recognized it as a separate species. [8]
In the first decade of the 2000s Leucopternis was found to be polyphyletic, and in 2012 the American Ornithologists' Union separated the white hawk and its relatives under the old name Pseudaster. [9]
DNA analysis found that the subspecies P. a. albicollis is sister to P. a. polionotus, and the trans-Andean P. a. ghiesbreghti and P. a. costaricensis are more closely related to P. occidentalis than they are to P. a. albicollis. [8]
This is a bird of lowland forest and other woodlands. It ranges from southern Mexico through Central and South America to Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. It also breeds on Trinidad. The white hawk's range in central South America is the entire Amazon basin, from the Andes on the west to the Guianas on the Atlantic on the northeast, and to the transition lands to the south. A widespread species, it is usually not common, but the IUCN considers it not to be globally threatened due to the large extent of its range. [1]
The white hawk feeds mainly on reptiles (such as lizards and snakes, including the eastern coral snake) with some insects (such as beetles and grasshoppers), crabs, amphibians and mammals (including rats, squirrels, small opossums and bats), caught in a sortie from a perch. [10] [11] [12] Researchers have documented the white hawk feeding on a number of bird species including the keel-billed toucan, the mottled owl, the white-breasted wood wren and the great tinamou. [10] They may feed on young and weak birds, as well. [12] Though rare, there is some evidence that this hawk may occasionally feed on fish. [10] One researcher in Suriname found remains of a fish in a white hawk's stomach. [10] It associates with foraging groups of tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and South American coatis (Nasua nasua) to snatch prey startled by these animals. [13] This species is often seen soaring, and has a spectacular aerial courtship display.
It builds a large stick platform nest in a tree [14] and usually lays one dark-blotched blue-white egg. An attended nest was observed in Ecuador in mid-August. [15]
The white-nosed coati, also known as the coatimundi, is a species of coati and a member of the family Procyonidae. Local Spanish names for the species include antoon, gato solo, pizote, and tejón, depending upon the region. It weighs about 4–6 kg (8.8–13.2 lb), and the nose-to-tail length of the species is about 110 cm (3.6 ft) with about half of that being the tail length. However, small females can weigh as little as 3.1 kg (6.8 lb), while large males can weigh as much as 9 kg (20 lb).
The plain-brown woodcreeper, is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in the tropical New World from Honduras through South America to central Brazil and in Trinidad and Tobago.
The red-crowned ant tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird from tropical America. The genus Habia was long placed with the tanagers (Thraupidae), but it is actually closer to the cardinals (Cardinalidae). Consequently, it can be argued that referring to the members of this genus as ant-tanagers is misleading, but no other common name has gained usage.
The yellow-rumped cacique is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in much of northern South America from Panama and Trinidad south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil. However, they have been sighted as far north as Nayarit state in Mexico.
The short-tailed swift is a bird in the Apodidae, or swift family.
The yellow-chinned spinetail is a passerine bird found in the tropical New World from Trinidad and Colombia south to Argentina and Uruguay. It is a member of the South American ovenbird family Furnariidae.
The western mountain coati or western dwarf coati is a small procyonid, found in cloud forest and páramo at altitudes of 1,300–4,250 metres (4,270–13,940 ft) in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. A population discovered in the Apurímac–Cuzco region of southern Peru has tentatively been identified as the western mountain coati, but may represent an undescribed taxon.
The chestnut-headed oropendola is a New World tropical icterid bird. The scientific name of the species commemorates Johann Georg Wagler, who established Psarocolius, the oropendola genus.
Buteogallus is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. All members of this genus are essentially neotropical, but the distribution of a single species extends slightly into the extreme southwestern United States. Many of the species are fond of large crustaceans and even patrol long stretches of shore or riverbank on foot where such prey abounds, but some have a rather different lifestyle. Unlike many other genera of raptor, some members are referred to as "hawks", and others as "eagles".
The white-browed hawk is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Accipitrinae, the "true" hawks, of family Accipitridae. It is found Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru.
The black-faced hawk is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. This low-density species has traditionally been believed to be restricted to Amazon Basin north of the Amazon River, but there are several records south of this river, in, for example, the Brazilian states of Pará and Acre, and southeastern Peru. It is closely related to the white-browed hawk and individuals showing a level of intermediacy between the two species are known, suggesting that they rarely hybridize
The grey-backed hawk is an Endangered species of bird of prey in subfamily Accipitrinae, the "true" hawks, of family Accipitridae. It is found in Ecuador and far northern Peru.
The mantled hawk is a South American species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
The white-fronted nunbird is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
The barred forest falcon is a species of bird of prey in subfamily Herpetotherinae of family Falconidae, the falcons and caracaras. It occurs from southern Mexico south through most of Central America and in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay.
The saffron-headed parrot is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela.
The black-chested jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae.
The slaty-crowned antpitta or slate-crowned antpitta is a species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela.
The grey-throated leaftosser is a Near Threatened species of bird in the subfamily Sclerurinae, the leaftossers and miners, of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
Pseudastur is a genus of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It contains the following species: