The Story
This Savanna Hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) was at La Macarena, Meta, Colombia when I photographed it. It is a large raptor of open savanna and swamp edges, breeding from Panama and Trinidad south to central Argentina. It usually hunts from an open, high perch, but it will also hunt on foot, and several may gather at grass fires. It builds a stick nest lined with grass in a palm tree. The clutch is a single white egg. The Sierra de la Macarena is home to about 420 bird species, along with eight species of primates.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −0.7 EV. IUCN lists the Savanna Hawk as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Savanna Hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List