Gray hawk
| Gray hawk | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Subfamily: | Buteoninae |
| Genus: | Buteo |
| Species: | Buteo plagiatus (Schlegel 1862) |
| Binomial name | |
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Buteo plagiatus |
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| Synonyms | |
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Asturina plagiata |
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Asturina plagiata
Buteo nitidus plagiatus
Asturina nitida plagiata
The gray hawk (Buteo plagiatus) or Mexican goshawk is a smallish raptor found in open country and forest edges. It is sometimes placed in the genus Asturina as Asturina plagiata. The species was recently split by the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) from the gray-lined hawk. The gray hawk is found from Costa Rica north into the southwestern United States.
The grey hawk is 46–61 cm (18–24 in) in length and weighs 475 g (16.8 oz) on average. The adult has a pale gray body, the tail is black with three white bands and the legs are orange. It is a solid, unpatterned gray on the upper parts.
Immature birds have dark brown upperparts, a pale-banded brown tail, brown-spotted white underparts and a brown streaked buff head and neck. This species is quite short-winged, and has a fast agile flight for a Buteo. The call is a shrill whistled kleee-ooo.
Gray hawks feed mainly on lizards and snakes, but will also take small mammals, birds and frogs. It usually sits on an open high perch from which it swoops on its prey, but will also hunt from a low glide. The nest is of sticks and built high in a tree. The usual clutch is one to three, usually two white to pale blue eggs. The young take about 6 weeks to fledging.
The taxonomy of the gray hawk puts it within in the genus Buteo. This genus consists of hawks, which include the red-shouldered hawk, Swainson's hawk, and others. The genus Buteo is in the sub-family Accipitrinae which is also known as the "true hawks", and Accipitrinae is within the family of Accipitridae. Accipitridae consist of hawks, old world vultures, kites, harriers, and eagles. This family is within the order Falconiformes which are the diurnal (active during the day) birds of prey.
The species was originally described by Hermann Schlegel in 1862 as Asturina plagiata. The AOU listed A. plagiata with the common name "Mexican goshawk" in the first four editions of the Check-List of North American Birds, from 1886–1931. By the 1957 fifth edition, it had been merged into Buteo nitidis; but by the 1998 seventh edition all of B. nitidis was separated into the resurrected genus Asturina.
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