White-browed Hawk
Leucopternis kuhli
Compact, black-and-white forest hawk. Short tail and broad wings give it a chunkier appearance than other interior forest raptors like forest-falcons and hawks in the genus Accipiter. White below, black above, with a white eyebrow. Has a darker black-streaked head and more noticeable white eyebrows than the similar Black-faced Hawk, which has a white head with a small black mask. Found singly or in pairs in the midstory and canopy of mature rainforest.
Identification
The white-browed hawk is 37 to 40 cm (15 to 16 in) long with a 65 to 76 cm (26 to 30 in) wingspan. Females are larger than males and both sexes have the same plumage. They have a dark head with a narrow white stripe above the eye. Their upperparts are black with white streaks on their nape and mantle. Their tail is black with a wide white band at the midpoint. Their underparts are white. Their eye is brown or reddish brown and their cere, legs, and feet are orange.
Taxonomy
The white-browed hawk and the black-faced hawk (L. melanops) are sister species and have sometimes been considered conspecific. They share genus Leucopternis with the semiplumbeous hawk (L. semiplumbeus). The white-browed hawk is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Leucopternis kuhli
- Authority
- Bonaparte, 1850
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Leucopternis
Range and habitat
The white-browed hawk is found south of the Amazon River. It occurs in eastern Peru between the departments of Loreto and Madre de Dios, in northern and northeastern Bolivia, and in Brazil to the Atlantic coast in Pará state. It inhabits tropical rainforest between sea level and 500 m (1,600 ft) of elevation.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The white-browed hawk appears to be sedentary.<p>The white-browed hawk hunts near the forest floor. Its diet has not been studied but it has been observed taking a snake and a lizard and is thought to also feed on frogs and large insects.<p>The white-browed hawk's breeding biology is almost unknown. The one described nest was in western Brazil in December and was thought to hold eggs. It was a small platform of sticks, twigs, and leaves placed in the subcanopy about 15 m (50 ft) above the ground.<p>The white-browed hawk's call is "a high-pitched rather thin downslurred whistle 'keeeeuw' given at intervals."
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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