Broad-winged Hawk
Buteo platypterus
Call and song
Recording 1 · call
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the Broad-winged Hawk
Rather small, compact hawk; about the size of Red-shouldered Hawk, smaller than Red-tailed Hawk. Adults are solid brown above, barred reddish-brown below with bold black-and-white tail bands. Immatures similar, but with blotchier markings below and thin, diffuse tail bands. Distinctive shape in flight: note the short tail, straight leading edge of wing, and bulging secondaries in flight. Listen for high-pitched, piercing whistle coming from woodlands during breeding season. Known for forming massive flocks called kettles during migration, when it travels from the U.S. and Canada all the way to winter in Central and South America.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 37 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- French Guiana
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Honduras
- Martinique
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin (French part)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sint Maarten
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
- Venezuela
- Virgin Islands (British)
