Home > Zone-tailed Hawk

The Zone-tailed Hawk, Buteo albonotatus, is a medium-sized hawk of warm, dry parts of the Americas. It feeds on small vertebrates of all kinds (other than fish), including birds up to the size of quail.

Grown birds are 47–55 cm (18.5–21.5 inches) in length with a wingspan of about 1.2 m (4 feet); their average weight is 810 g (1.8 pounds). Adult plumage is mostly blackish except that the flight feathers are barred with lighter gray (appearing solid gray from a distance) and the tail has three or four bands or "zones", white from below and light gray from above, of which the one second from the tip is particularly broad and conspicuous. The cere and legs are yellow. Immatures are similar except for small white spots on the breast and tails with narrow gray and black bands and a broad dark tip.

The bird's plumage closely resembles that of the Turkey Vulture, and Zone-tailed Hawks soar with their wings held above the horizontal, rocking from side to side, like Turkey Vultures and often in company with them. As Turkey Vultures seldom prey on healthy animals, some ornithologists believe that this mimicry tricks potential prey animals into not being alarmed when a zone-tail flies overhead. Bird guides caution against confusing it with the much more common Turkey Vulture, but at a reasonable distance one can see the smaller size, the typical hawk shape of the wings and head, and the pale stripe on the tail.

The call is a loud scream dropping in pitch at the end. In at least some birds, there is an abrupt rise in pitch (like a break to a falsettoFalsetto is a singing technique that produces sounds pitched higher than the singer's normal range. Falsetto can also mean an artificially raised speaking pitch. This often occurs momentarily if repeatedly in males during puberty for psychosocial reasons. voice) in the middle and an equally abrupt drop back down.

Zone-tailed Hawks range from parts of ArizonaArizona was the 48th state admitted to the United States and is part of the Southwest United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, south and east of the Colorado River, bordering New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California and Mexico. Its major cities ar, New MexicoNew Mexico is a state in the southwestern United States and its U. postal abbreviation is NM . The state's two official languages are English and Spanish. Nuevo Mexico was the Spanish name for the territory north and west of the Rio Grande. USS New Mexico, and western TexasTexas joined the United States of America as its 28th member state in 1845. It has the postal abbreviation TX . The state name derives from a word in a Caddoan language of the Hasinai, tejas meaning friends or allies Spanish explorers mistakenly applied t to southern 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., ParaguayThe Republic of Paraguay is a landlocked republic in South America. Lying on both banks of the Paraguay River, it borders Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the northeast and Bolivia to the northwest. The name "Paraguay" is derived from the G, BoliviaThe Republic of Bolivia is a landlocked country in western South America. It is bordered by Brazil in the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina in the south, and Chile and Peru in the west. History Main article: History of Bolivia Bolivia has long been i, 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. In winter they generally withdraw from the U.S. part of their range. They sometimes wander out of their normal range, and the bird was once recorded in Nova Scotia. Their habitat is canyons with open woods in arid or semi-arid regions, though birds may hunt outside of canyons.

The nest is typical of hawks: a big assemblage of sticks built in the leafy top of a tree (usually tall) or on a cliff. The clutch comprises two or three white eggs, often marked with brown.