| Savanna hawk | |
|---|---|
.JPG)
| |
| In the Pantanal, Brazil | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Buteogallus |
| Species: | B. meridionalis
|
| Binomial name | |
| Buteogallus meridionalis (Latham, 1790)
| |
| |
| Synonyms | |
|
Heterospizias meridionalis | |
The savanna hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) is a large raptor found in open savanna and swamp edges. It was formerly placed in the genus Heterospizias. It breeds from Panama and Trinidad south to Bolivia, Uruguay and central Argentina.[2] There are also reports of it in California, from 1973 in Alameda County and from 1974 in San Diego County.[3]
The savanna hawk is 46–61 cm (18–24 in) in length and weighs 845 g (29.8 oz).[4] The adult has a rufous body with grey mottling above and fine black barring below. The flight feathers of the long broad wings are black, and the tail is banded black and white.[2][4] The legs are yellow. The call is a loud scream keeeeru.[4]
Immature birds are similar to the adults but have darker, duller upperparts, paler underparts with coarser barring, and a whitish supercilium. This species perches very vertically, and its legs are strikingly long.[4]
The savanna hawk feeds on small mammals, small birds, lizards, snakes, toads, frogs, eels, other fish, crabs, roots, spiders, and large insects (such as grasshoppers).[5][6][7] It usually sits on an open high perch from which it swoops on its prey, but will also hunt on foot, and several birds may gather at grass fires.[2]
The nest is of sticks lined with grass and built in a palm tree.[2] The clutch is a single white egg, and the young take 6.5 to 7.5 weeks to fledging.[4]
