Short-tailed hawk
Buteo brachyurus
Identification Tips:
- Sexes similar
- Small buteo
- Broad rounded wings
- Hooked beak
- Short broad tail
- Wingtips help upwards while soaring
- Long wings reach end of tail at rest
- Range restricted to Florida
Adult-white morph:
- Dark upperparts
- Dark face with white chin
- White underparts and wing linings
- Dark secondaries
- Barred tail-subterminal band widest
- Immature similar to adult but face is streaked and tail bands are of equal
width
Adult-dark morph:
- Entirely blackish plumage
- Whitish bases to primaries contrasting with black wing linings and secondaries
- Barred tail-subterminal band widest
- Immature similar to adult but underparts mottled with white and tail bands
of equal width
Similar species:
Light morph distinctive with entirely white underparts. Dark morph is
similar to other dark morph buteos but secondaries are darker than the
primaries. At rest, other buteo's wingtips do not reach to the end of the
tail. Dark morph Broad-winged Hawk has evenly light flight feathers while
dark morph Swainson's Hawk has evenly dark flight feathers.