Broad-winged Hawk

Buteo platypterus

The broad-winged hawk is a medium-sized hawk of the genus Buteo. During the summer, some subspecies are distributed over eastern North America, as far west as British Columbia and Texas; they then migrate south to winter in the Neotropics from Mexico south to southern Brazil. Other subspecies are all-year residents on Caribbean islands. As in most raptors, females are slightly larger than males. Broad-winged hawks' wings are relatively short and broad with a tapered, somewhat pointed appearance. The two types of coloration are a dark morph with fewer white areas and a light morph that is more pale overall. Although the broad-winged hawk's overall population is increasing, populations are declining in some parts of its breeding range because of forest fragmentation. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 92,831 times across 70 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 21°C (typically 12 to 26°C, from 36 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 23°N in October to 33°N in July, about 1,100 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.