Nombre en español: Cangrejero Grande

Nombre en ingles: Great Black Hawk

Nombre científico: Buteogallus urubitinga

Familia: Accipitridae

Foto: Nick Athanas

Canto: Oscar Ramírez Alán

El gavilán cangrejero grande o urubitinga (Buteogallus urubitinga) es una especie de ave accipitriformede la familia Accipitridae ampliamente distribuida por la región Neotropical (Iberoamérica), donde es posible su observación desde México hasta Argentina pasando por Centroamérica y buena parte de Sudamérica.

Subespecies

Se conocen dos subespecies de Buteogallus urubitinga:

Buteogallus urubitinga ridgwayi – tierras bajas desde el norte de México al oeste de Panamá.
Buteogallus urubitinga urubitinga – del este de Panamá hasta el norte de Argentina.

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 is a resident breeding bird in the tropical New World, from Mexico through Central America to Peru, Tobago and northern Argentina. It resembles the common black hawk, but is larger with a different call and tail pattern.

This is a mainly coastal bird of forest and open woodland near water. It builds a large stick nest in a tree, and usually lays one dark-blotched whitish egg.

The adult great black hawk is 56 to 64 centimetres (22 to 25 in) long and weighs 1.1 kilograms (2 lb 7 oz). It has very broad wings, and is mainly black. The short tail is white with a broad black tip. The bill is black and the legs and cere are yellow.

The sexes are similar, but immature birds are dark brown above with spotting and streaks. Their underparts are buff with dark spots, and the tail has a number of black and dusky bars. The call of great black hawk is a distinctive piping ooo-wheeeeee.

The great black hawk feeds mainly on reptiles, other small vertebrates and large insects, often hunted on foot. This species is often seen soaring above woodlands. Along Amazon rivers it has been observed raiding hoatzin nesting colonies looking for eggs and chicks.