Buteogallus anthracinus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The common black hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and vultures. The adult common black-hawk is 43–53 cm (17–21 in) long and weighs 930 g (33 oz) on average. It has very broad wings, and is mainly black or dark gray. The short tail is black with a single broad white band and a white tip. The bill is black and the legs and cere are yellow. The adults resemble zone-tailed hawks, but have fewer white bars on their tail and are larger in size.
Sexes are similar, but immature birds are dark brown above with spotting and streaks. Their underparts are buff to whitish with dark blotches, and the tail has a number of black and white bars. It formerly included the Cuban black-hawk (Buteogallus gundlachii) as a subspecies. The mangrove black hawk, traditionally considered a distinct species, is now generally considered a subspecies, B. a. subtilis, of the common black-hawk.
The common black-hawk is a breeding bird in the warmer parts of the Americas, from the Southwestern United States through Central America to Venezuela, Peru, Trinidad, and the Lesser... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Maracaibo | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 3 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 6 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 7 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 8 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 9 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Knowsley Safari Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | São Paulo Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Xcaret | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Aviario Nacional de Colombia | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 5 | Zoológico Thomas Belt | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 6 | El Nispero Zoo | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 7 | Seaside Seabird Sanctuary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Zoológico Miguél Álvarez del Toro | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Common Black-Hawk sighting in Tikal National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 268th most-seen of the 300 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 Common Black-Hawk in Tikal National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Black-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.
38th of 40
Of the 40 parks where we can rate Common Black-Hawk sightings, Tikal National Park ranks 38th at under 5%. The best odds are in Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 50%), Coiba National Park (Panama, about 50%) and Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Common Black-Hawk that you can see in Tikal National Park (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Roadside Hawk (about 50%), Plumbeous Kite (about 20%) and Ornate Hawk-Eagle (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Black-Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Tikal 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.
