Bird Guide

Great Black Hawk vs Savanna Hawk

Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga)

Great Black Hawk

Buteogallus urubitinga

Large1.2 kgWoodland

The adult great black hawk is 56 to 64 centimetres (22 to 25 in) long and weighs 1.1 kilograms (2 lb 7 oz). It resembles the common black hawk, but is larger with a different call and tail pattern. It has very broad wings, and is mainly black. The short tail is white with a broad black tip. The bill is black and the legs and cere are yellow. The sexes are similar, but immature birds are dark brown above with spotting and streaks. Their underparts are buff with dark spots, and the tail has a number of black and dusky bars. The call of the great black hawk is a distinctive piping ooo-wheeeeee.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Great Black Hawk
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Flight call · Esmeraldas: Canandé Botrosa Road end, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: unknown · Public domain
Savanna Hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis)

Savanna Hawk

Buteogallus meridionalis

Large808 gGrassland

The savanna hawk is 46–61 cm (18–24 in) in length and weighs 845 g (29.8 oz). 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. The legs are yellow. The call is a loud scream keeeeru. 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.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Darren Obbard · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great Black Hawk and Savanna Hawk.