| Red-backed Hawk (Buteo polyosoma) (aka Variable Hawk) Chilean name: Aguilucho |
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Puyehue National Park, Chile November 2005 The Red-backed Hawk is distributed in the central Andes and Pacific lowlands from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego. It seems to prefer more open habitat particularly scrubby areas where it hunts for its mainly mammal prey by hovering. |
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| Its plumage is highly variable and Jaramillo and others call it "Variable Hawk". Its most constant feature is its white tail and black sub-terminal band. Males tend to have grey backs with largely grey or white underparts. The larger females typically have a rufous back but can have either white or rufous underparts. | ||||
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