Great Black-Hawk
Buteogallus urubitinga
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderAccipitriformes (Hawks, Eagles, Kites, and Allies)
- FamilyAccipitridae (Hawks, Eagles, and Kites)
- GenusButeogallus (Black Hawks and Allies)
- SpeciesButeogallus urubitinga (Great Black-Hawk)
About the Great Black-Hawk
The great black hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures. The great black hawk was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the eagles, hawks and relatives in the genus Falco and coined the binomial name Falco urubitinga. Gmelin's description was ultimately based on the "urubitinga" that had been described in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. The great black hawk is now one of nine species placed in the genus Buteogallus was introduced in 1830 by the French naturalist René Lesson. The name genus is a portmanteau of Buteo, a genus introduced in 1779 by Bernard Germain de Lacépède for the buzzards and the genus Gallus introduced in 1760 by Mathurin Jacques Brisson for the junglefowl. The specific epithet urubitinga is from Tupi Urubú tinga meaning "big black bird" for such a raptor.
Two subspecies are recognised: B. u. ridgwayi (Gurney, JH Sr, 1884) – Mexico to west Panama B. u. urubitinga (Gmelin, JF... Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Coiba National Park
Common Black-Hawk
Buteogallus anthracinus
Roadside Hawk
Rupornis magnirostris
Broad-winged Hawk
Buteo platypterus
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Spizaetus ornatus
White Hawk
Leucopternis albicollis
Short-tailed Hawk
Buteo brachyurus
Swainson's Hawk
Buteo swainsoni
Double-toothed Kite
Harpagus bidentatus
Black Vulture
Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
King Vulture
Sarcoramphus papa
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.