Need help ID

[Christian Dionne]

Hi,
I saw this rapture in Cuba (Cayo Coco to be more specific) It does look like a zone-tailed hawk or a snail kite, the size looks right but I'm not sure about the underwing pattern and the area it was observed...







Thank you in advance!!!

[John Chardine]

Hi Christian- I think this is the Common Black Hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus. It has the field marks given in my Caribbean reference Raffaele et al. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies: light patch at base of primaries, long, dangly, yellow legs, yellow cere, and the tail in banded correctly for this species.

Any other ideas?

[Christian Dionne]

Thank you john, you are right, the light patch at base of primaries in my guide (field guide to birds of North america) is quite different but after "googeling" some images, I saw that exact same patch on some birds.

Thanks again!

[Chris Sloan]

Cuban Black-Hawk, which may or may not be a subspecies of Common Black-Hawk.

[Christian Dionne]

Well then, it is a Cuban Black-Hack...

After what I read there:

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/spe...&sid=32478&m=0

Thanks Chris