Short-tailed Hawk

Overview
Short-tailed Hawk: Small hawk of grass and woodland habitat in Florida. Occurs in two color morphs: Dark morph adult is uniformly dark brown with thin dark bands on a dull white tail. In flight shows white flight feathers with thin dark bands and dark wingtips. The light morph has white underparts.

Range and Habitat
Short-tailed Hawk Dark Morph: Found in a wide variety of mixed woodland and grassland habitats throughout the southern two-thirds of Florida.

The Short-tailed Hawk has a large range, estimated globally at 14,000,000 square kilometers. Native to the Americas, this bird prefers subtropical or tropical forest and dry savanna ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 500,000 to 5,000,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Short-tailed Hawk is Least Concern.

INTERESTING FACTS The Short-tailed Hawk is a rare bird in Florida, although it is not on the Endangered Species list. It is easily identified by its solid color underparts (dark or light depending on phase) and striped wing and tail feathers. The bird’s range also includes central Mexico south to the Andes and Chile. A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.