Short-tailed Hawk

Buteo brachyurus

 

eBird provides this descriptive information about the Short-tailed Hawk:  Rather small hawk that is often seen soaring on flat wings with tips swept upwards, suddenly dropping out of the sky like a rock. Dark morph adult is very dark brown with paler undersides on outer flight feathers. Dark juvenile similar but is distinctly spotted below, and lacks the terminal band on the wings. Light morph adult is clean white below and brown above with rusty patch on the side of its neck, a dark hood and a white throat. Light morph juvenile is similar but lacks rusty patch. All birds have a faintly banded tail. Most similar to Broad-winged Hawk, which is never clean white below. Dark morph Broad-winged separable from dark morph Short-tailed Hawks by tail pattern and wing shape.

I saw my first Short-tailed Hawk early on the morning of November 20, 2024, while being driven by my new guide Roque from Belize City to Black Rock Lodge (just after my trip to Belize with The Texas Ornithological Society ended and I was on my own for a few days).  This bird was perched in a tree not far from the roadway, very near what appeared to be a nest.  It was a very foggy morning and the light was poor, but the photos I got were good enough to confirm the identifiaction of the bird.  Below are a couple of the photos I took that morning.

SHORT-TAILED HAWK ALONG HIGHWAY OUTSIDE OF BELIZE CITY.
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SHORT-TAILED HAWK.
THE SHORT-TAILED HAWK WAS SITTING NEAR A NEST WHEN I FIRST SPOTTED THE BIRD.