Gray Hawk

Overview
Gray Hawk: Small tropical hawk with uniformly pale gray upperparts and fine white barring on underparts. Cere is yellow. Tail is thickly banded black and white. Wing tips are rounded. Legs and feet are yellow. Bouyant, graceful flap-and-glide flight, soars on thermals often but not to great heights.

Range and Habitat
Gray Hawk: Enters the United States in southeastern Arizona where it is restricted to tall cottonwood forests along a few streams.

The Gray Hawk is a small raptor, typically only 46 to 61 cm in length at adulthood. Its natural habitat is open country and edges of woodlands. Breeding grounds for the species are found in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, central Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago. Diets of the Gray Hawk consist mainly of lizards and snakes, small mammals, birds and frogs. This species sits atop high trees prior to diving or hunting while gliding. Nests are built in high trees on the edges of woodlands. Due to maintained or increasing numbers, the Gray Hawk has a current conservation rating of Least Concern.

INTERESTING FACTS
Like many birds of prey living in deciduous woods, Gray Hawks often line their nests with fresh leafy branches. A group of hawks has many collective nouns, including a "boil", "knot", "spiraling", "stream", and "tower" of hawks.