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 →
Recent sightings of Great Black-Hawk in Pico Bonito National Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Pico Bonito National Park
Common Black-Hawk
Buteogallus anthracinus
Gray-lined Hawk
Buteo nitidus
Roadside Hawk
Rupornis magnirostris
White Hawk
Leucopternis albicollis
Short-tailed Hawk
Buteo brachyurus
Black Hawk-Eagle
Spizaetus tyrannus
Snail Kite
Rostrhamus sociabilis
Double-toothed Kite
Harpagus bidentatus
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Spizaetus ornatus
White-tailed Kite
Elanus leucurus
Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle
Spizaetus melanoleucus
Zone-tailed Hawk
Buteo albonotatus
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.