White Hawk - Pseudastur / Leucopternis albicollis

White Hawk Pseudastur albicollis
(aka Leucopternis albicollis)

Brazil

What a spectacular raptor this is. The nominate subspecies found in northern South America has a white head, neck and underparts with upperparts mainly black. It has grey lores.

Other subspecies tend to have more white on the back and are to be found in central America and western Colombia.

White Hawk, ZF2 Road, Marchantaria Island, Amazonas, Brazil, July 2001 - click for larger image

It is a forest bird but is relatively easy to see since it tends to perch at forest edges. It hunts mainly snakes which it spots from its perch or when soaring.

There are illustrations in HBW, Volume 2, Page 166; Hilty & Brown, Plate V; and Ridgely & Greenfield, Plate 12.

White Hawk, Carajás, Pará, Brazil, October 2005 - click for larger image

The buffy tones on the bird in photos 3 to 5 suggest that it is a sub-adult.

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