Tiny Hawk

About the Tiny Hawk

The tiny hawk (Microspizias superciliosus) is a small diurnal bird of prey found primarily around humid forests of the Neotropics. It is primarily a bird-eater, and is known to prey on hummingbirds. The tiny hawk was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Falco superciliosus. Linnaeus specified the locality as Suriname. The specific epithet superciliosus is Latin meaning "eye-browed".

There are two subspecies separated by the northern Andes. The two differ most significantly in relative tail length; differences in size and color are small, and can be hard to distinguish. Microspizias superciliosus fontanieri (Bonaparte, 1853) – is found from Nicaragua south to western Ecuador. It is somewhat smaller and darker than the nominate M. s. superciliosus, with a shorter tail and sharper, blacker barring below.

Microspizias superciliosus superciliosus (Linnaeus, 1766) – is found east of the Andes in South America. Slightly larger than fontanieri, it is paler and has diffuse, grayish barring on the underparts. The tiny hawk and its sister species, the upland-dwelling semicollared... Wikipedia →