Buteogallus meridionalis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The savanna hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) is a large raptor found in open savanna and swamp edges. It was formerly placed in the genus Heterospizias. It breeds from Panama and Trinidad south to Bolivia, Uruguay and central Argentina. There are also reports of it in California, from 1973 in Alameda County and from 1974 in San Diego County.
The savanna hawk is 46–61 cm (18–24 in) in length and weighs 845 g (29.8 oz). The adult has a rufous body with grey mottling above and fine black barring below. The flight feathers of the long broad wings are black, and the tail is banded black and white. The legs are yellow. The call is a loud scream keeeeru.
Immature birds are similar to the adults but have darker, duller upperparts, paler underparts with coarser barring, and a whitish supercilium. This species perches very vertically, and its legs are strikingly long. The savanna hawk feeds on small mammals, small birds, lizards, snakes, toads, frogs, eels, other fish, crabs, roots, spiders, and large insects (such as grasshoppers). It usually sits on an open high perch from which it swoops on its prey, but will also hunt on foot, and several birds may... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 7 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 8 | Caroni Swamp | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 9 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | El Palmar National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 11 | Machalilla National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 12 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 13 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 14 | Amboró National Park | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 15 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 16 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 17 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 18 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 19 | Piedras Blancas National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Barranquilla | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 5 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | São Paulo Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Parque de las Leyendas | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 3 | Aviario Nacional de Colombia | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Bioparque Los Ocarros | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Bioparque Wakatá | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Mangal das Garças | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | El Nispero Zoo | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Parque dos Falcões | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Zoológico de Canindé | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | GüiráOga | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Savanna Hawk sighting in Panama City on a given day, based on 294 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 119th most-seen of the 363 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, September and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Savanna Hawk in Panama City on a given day, against under 5% in January, March–August and October, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Savanna Hawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Savanna Hawk sightings, Panama City ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Guayaquil (Ecuador, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Savanna Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Panama City (294 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
