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Short-tailed Hawk, Buteo brachyurus, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks and Old World vultures. As a member of the genus Buteo, it is referred to in British usage as a buzzard rather than a true ( Accipiter) hawk.

Short-tailed Hawk breeds in tropical and subtropical AmericaThe word America has several meanings: Geographical and political The United States of America. America a small town in the Netherlands. Amerika a small town in Saxony, Germany America, Cambridgeshire a place in the United Kingdom America North, Central, from southeastern BrazilThis article is about Brazil, the country. For other article subjects named Brazil see Brazil (disambiguation). The Federative Republic of Brazil Republica Federativa do Brasil in Portuguese) is the largest and most populous country in South America. and northern ArgentinaArgentina is a Spanish-speaking country in southern South America, situated between the Andes in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east. It is bordered by Paraguay and Bolivia in the north, Brazil and Uruguay in the northeast and Chile in th north through Central AmericaCentral America is the region of North America located between the southern border of Mexico and the northwest border of Colombia, in South America. Some geographers classify Central America as a large isthmus, and in this geographic sense it sometimes in to northern MexicoThis article is about the country Mexico. For other meanings, see Mexico (disambiguation The United Mexican States or Mexico ( Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos or Mexico regarding the use of the variant spelling Mejico see section The name below) is a co. There is also a population in southern FloridaFlorida is a southern state in the United States. It is known as the Sunshine State. Florida" is a Spanish adjective which means "flowery". It was discovered by Spanish explorers during the Easter season, which is called Pascua Florida in Spanish. Postal, USA. It is generally found below 2000 metres, mostly between 1400 metres and sea level. It is replaced by the closely related White-throated Hawk, previously considered a subspecies of Short-tailed, in the Andes of Colombia and south to central Argentina and Chile. The Short-tailed Hawk is uncommon and local in most of its range. As far as is known it is a year-round resident except that most of the Florida population migrates in winter to the southern tip of the state, including the Keys.

This species is associated with woodland, often near water. The large stick nest is built in a tree, often a bald cypress in Florida. The 1-3 eggs are white, usually with dark spots and blotches.

Short-tailed Hawk is a small buzzard, 40cm long with a 90cm wingspan. Males average about 400 grams and females over 500, but the sexes are indistinguishable in the field. It has broad rounded wings, the tips of which are curved upwards while soaring, and a broad tail that despite the bird's name is of average length for a buteo in proportion to the body. Its call is a high-pitched scream similar to other buzzards.

This species occurs in two colour morphs with no intermediates; the dark form predominates in Florida and the light form elsewhere in its range. The adult light morph has dark brown upperparts. The underparts are white, except that the tail and flight feathers are grey barred with dark. The immature is similar to the adult but the face is streaked rather than white, and the tail bands are of equal width, whereas the adult has a broad bar near near the tail tip.

The adult dark morph has black-brown upperparts and underparts, apart from the tail and flight feathers, which are grey barred with dark as in the light morph but possibly with darker grey. The young bird has the same tail pattern as the light-morph immature, and the underparts are spotted with white.

This hawk eats mainly birds. In Florida (the only place where much is known about its natural history), its prey ranges in size from wood warblers up to Bobwhites and it most often takes Red-winged Blackbirds and Eastern Meadowlarks. It also eats some rodents, frogs, lizards and large insects. It hunts, often at the borders between wooded and open areas, from soaring flight. A frequent maneuver is to come to a stop, heading into the wind, with its wings held stationary ("kiting"). It typically attacks prey with a nearly vertical swoop, sometimes pausing and then continuing downward in a "stair-step" manner.