The Cuban black hawk (''Buteogallus gundlachii'') is a

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Accipitridae The Accipitridae () is one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and several outlying

cay A cay ( ), also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, including in the Caribbean and on the Grea ...

Taxonomy

German ornithologist

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

described the Cuban black hawk in 1855. It was considered by most authorities to be a subspecies of the Mangrove Black Hawk (''Buteogallus anthracinus''), although aspects of its behavior were little studied. However, in 2007, the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

classified it as a separate species based on differing vocalizations and plumage patterns. It is one of eight species in the New World genus ''

Buteogallus ''Buteogallus'' is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. All members of this genus are essentially neotropical, but the distribution of a single species extends slightly into the extreme southwestern United States. Many of the sp ...

''.

Description

The species has an average body length of . The plumage is mainly dark brown verging on black. A lighter greyish or whitish patch may be present on the face between the bill and the eye. White patches at the base of the primary flight feathers are visible in flight. The tail is striped with wide black and white bands. The legs are yellow and the bill is yellow tipped in black. Generally, females tend to be slightly larger in size than males. Common black-hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus gundlachii) juvenile.JPG, Juvenile Common black-hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus gundlachii) in flight.JPG,

Distribution and habitat

The Cuban black hawk is endemic to

, where it is found primarily in coastal and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

regions and on

Isla de la Juventud Isla de la Juventud (; ) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Island). The island was ...

. It also occurs in wooded areas and even near mountains on the main island, and on several outlying cayes. However, the majority of its sightings are below 800 meters above sea level.

Ecology

The species primarily feeds on crabs and also takes small vertebrates (fish, lizards, rodents and birds). Cuban black hawks breed mainly between March and June, but may do so as early as January. Nests are built in the sub-canopy of mangrove trees and are generally made out of mangrove twigs and lined with foliage. The female hawk lays 1–2 dark-spotted eggs (42–56 mm long). The species is

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...

and forms long-term pairs.

Conservation

The species was first evaluated for the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

in 2008 and is listed as

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

. Total population size has been estimated at 15,000 birds. Numbers are suspected to be declining due to the continued degradation and draining of its habitat, which also increases fragmentation of the population.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1264417 Cuban black hawk Endemic birds of Cuba Cuban black hawk