Description
The Broad-winged Hawk is a relatively small Buteo, with a body size from 32 to 44 cm (13 to 17 in) in length and weighing anywhere from 265 to 560 g (9.3 to 20 oz). The tail is relatively short, measuring 14.5–19 cm (5.7–7.5 in) in length. The tarsus measures from 5.6 to 6.6 cm (2.2 to 2.6 in). As in most raptors, females are slightly larger than males. Broad-winged Hawks have relatively short and broad wings, pointed at the end, which have a tapered appearance unique to the species. The wingspan can range from 74 to 100 cm (29 to 39 in), with the extended wing bone (standard measurement) measuring 22.7–30 cm (8.9–12 in). Adults' bodies are a dark brown with a white belly and chest containing horizontal barring. Their tail can be a dark grey-black with white lines along the middle, base and tip. The young hawks have a slightly different colouring with more white and longitudinal barring instead of horizontal barring. There are two types of colouration: a dark morph with fewer white areas and a light morph that is more pale overall. The light morph of this bird is most likely to be confused with the Red-shouldered Hawk, but they have a longer, more heavily barred tail and wings with a solid rufous color in the adult which are usually distinctive. Rare dark morphs are a darker brown on both upperparts and underparts. Dark-morph Short-tailed Hawks are similar but are whitish under the tail with a single subterminal band.
Read more about this topic: Broad-winged Hawk
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“The type of fig leaf which each culture employs to cover its social taboos offers a twofold description of its morality. It reveals that certain unacknowledged behavior exists and it suggests the form that such behavior takes.”
—Freda Adler (b. 1934)
“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)