The Story
I photographed this juvenile Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga) at Hacienda La Cabaña, near Tauramena, Casanare, Colombia, in January 2020. It lives from Mexico through Central America to Peru and northern Argentina. Immature birds are dark brown and spotted above and buff with dark spots below, with several bars on the tail. Its call is a distinctive piping ooo-wheeeeee. It eats reptiles, small animals, crabs, large insects, carrion, eggs and fruit, often hunting on foot. Along Amazon rivers it has been seen raiding Hoatzin colonies for eggs and chicks.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. Its numbers grew as forests were cleared in eastern North America, but they are now shrinking as suitable habitat declines.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga) belongs to the family Accipitridae (Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List