Buteogallus meridionalis
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
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 Piedras Blancas National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 322nd most-seen of the 344 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Savanna Hawk in Piedras Blancas National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
19th of 19
Of the 19 parks where we can rate Savanna Hawk sightings, Piedras Blancas National Park ranks 19th at under 5%. The best odds are in Emas National Park (Brazil, about 60%), Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 60%) and San Lorenzo Protected Forest (Panama, about 20%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Savanna Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Piedras Blancas National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
