Broad Winged Hawk
(Buteo playtpterus)

Diet: Eats amphibians, reptiles, insects, small mammals such as shrews and mice; occasionally takes young birds, usually from perches below the forest canopy at the edge of forest openings, frequently near open water and marshes. Will hunt over meadows and wetlands.

Habitat: Prefers deciduous and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests with openings, also near lakes, ponds and marshes. Black and yellow birches are commonly selected for nesting trees in New England.

Nesting/Reproduction: Nests at elevations up to 2,500 feet in the White Mountains, using coniferous or deciduous trees, often on wooded slopes near ponds and strems. Typically locates nest in the first main crotch in a tree next to the trunk (25 to 40 feet high), and sometimes uses old crow or hawk nests. Often nests along country roads with little traffic, generally away from human dwellings. Clutch size is typically 2 or 3 with only 1 brood per year. The incubation period averages 28 to 35 days, and the nestling period averages 29 to 30 days.

Identification: The Broad-winged hawk has white underwings with dark borders. Its tail has broad black and white bands, with the last white band broader than the others. Its call, heard mainly on breeding grounds, is a thin, thrill, slightly descending whistle: pee-teee. Broadwings often migrate in very large flocks.

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