Advertisement
Fun Facts
Did You Know?
Broad-winged hawks breed in large tracts of deciduous or mixed deciduous-coniferous forest — the same habitat type that supports pileated woodpeckers, barred owls, and other forest-interior species that require mature canopy, structural complexity, and distance from human disturbance. In North Louisiana, breeding habitat concentrates in the bottomland hardwood forests along the Tensas, Ouachita, and Red River corridors, in the mature mixed forests of Kisatchie National Forest, and in any large, unfragmented forest tract that provides the canopy cover and proximity to water that the species…
If This Animal Could Talk...
"Watch closely, respect my space, and let my habitat explain the rest of the story."
Broad-winged hawks are the quietest raptors in North Louisiana for eleven months of the year and the most spectacular raptors on the continent for approximately two weeks in September. Buteo platypterus spends the breeding season hidden deep beneath the forest canopy — a compact, unassuming, pigeon-sized buteo hawk that perches motionlessly on interior forest branches, watches for frogs, snakes, mice, large insects, and other forest-floor prey below, and drops silently and with lethal precision onto prey with a cat-like precision that makes the species nearly invisible to anyone walking through the same forest.
Then, in mid-September, the quiet forest hawk transforms into a migration spectacle that has drawn raptor enthusiasts to ridgelines and hawk-watch sites across eastern North America for over a century: thousands of broad-winged hawks rising together on thermals, swirling in massive soaring flocks called kettles that can number in the tens of thousands, streaming south in rivers of raptors that stretch from horizon to horizon on their way from northeastern breeding grounds to winter territories in Central and South America.
A Few More Facts
How they hunt and forage: Buteo platypterus spends the breeding season hidden deep beneath the forest canopy — a compact, unassuming, pigeon-sized buteo hawk that perches motionlessly on interior forest branches, watches for frogs, snakes, mice, large insects, and other forest-floor prey below, and drops silently and with lethal precision onto prey with a cat-like precision that makes the species nearly invisible to anyone walking through the same forest. Broad-winged hunting technique involves sitting on a low to mid-canopy perch inside deciduous or mixed forest, scanning the ground below with patient intensity for any movement that betrays prey, and dropping onto the target in a short, direct strike that terminates on the forest floor with talons extended. Prey reflects the forest-floor community in all its diversity: toads, tree frogs, green frogs, small snakes (ring-necked snakes, rough green snakes, brown snakes, small rat snakes), salamanders, mice, shrews, chipmunks, large insects (caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas), crayfish, and occasionally small birds caught on or near the ground.
Live birth or eggs? no
When young are born: After fledging, young birds linger near the nest site for up to 8 additional weeks, gradually developing the flight skills, perch-hunting proficiency, and thermal-soaring ability needed for the fall migration that awaits them within weeks of achieving independence.
Advertisement
Accessibility
Accessibility
Broad-wings give you two completely different experiences. During September migration, kettles of soaring hawks visible from any open field require nothing but a clear day and the willingness to look up — no binoculars, no forest access, no expertise. During breeding season, the species vanishes into the canopy and becomes one of the hardest raptors to find. Visitors with low or no vision can listen for the thin, piercing "pee-weeee" whistle in forested habitat from April through July, though the sound is faint enough that ambient noise can mask the call on breezy days.
Advertisement
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Broad-winged Hawks live in North Louisiana?
Yes. Broad-winged hawks are the quietest raptors in North Louisiana for eleven months of the year and the most spectacular raptors on the continent for approximately two weeks in September. North Louisiana sits directly along the Mississippi Valley flyway — one of the continent's major raptor migration corridors — that funnels migrating broad-winged hawks from breeding areas across the eastern United States through the Gulf states and into Mexico, where the birds follow the Gulf coastline south to avoid crossing open water.
Fall migration brings kettles of broad-wings through North Louisiana's skies during a concentrated passage window from mid-September to early October when weather conditions align, and a birder standing in an open agricultural field on a clear September day in Lincoln or Ouachita Parish may look up to see dozens or hundreds of hawks circling overhead in a thermal column that carries the birds to altitude before they stream south in a long, descending glide to the next thermal.
How do you identify Broad-winged Hawks?
Broad-winged hawks are small for buteos — 13 to 17 inches long, with a wingspan of 32 to 39 inches and a weight of 9 to 20 ounces, making them roughly crow-sized and noticeably smaller than the red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks they share forest habitat with. Females average slightly larger than males, but the size overlap between the sexes makes field determination of sex impractical
What does Broad-winged Hawks eat?
Buteo platypterus spends the breeding season hidden deep beneath the forest canopy — a compact, unassuming, pigeon-sized buteo hawk that perches motionlessly on interior forest branches, watches for frogs, snakes, mice, large insects, and other forest-floor prey below, and drops silently and with lethal precision onto prey with a cat-like precision that makes the species nearly invisible to anyone walking through the same forest.
Broad-winged hunting technique involves sitting on a low to mid-canopy perch inside deciduous or mixed forest, scanning the ground below with patient intensity for any movement that betrays prey, and dropping onto the target in a short, direct strike that terminates on the forest floor with talons extended.
Prey reflects the forest-floor community in all its diversity: toads, tree frogs, green frogs, small snakes (ring-necked snakes, rough green snakes, brown snakes, small rat snakes), salamanders, mice, shrews, chipmunks, large insects (caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, cicadas), crayfish, and occasionally small birds caught on or near the ground.
Is Broad-winged Hawks dangerous to people?
No. This species is not dangerous to people when it is observed without handling or disturbance
