Buteo brachyurus
Silhouette: Lauren Anderson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The short-tailed hawk (Buteo brachyurus) is an American bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles and Old World vultures. As a member of the genus Buteo, it is not a true hawk and thus also referred to as a "buteo" or (outside North America) "buzzard". The white-throated hawk (B. albigula) is a close relative and was formerly included in the species B. brachyurus.
Short-tailed hawks breed in the tropical and subtropical Americas from southeastern Brazil and northern Argentina north through Central America to the mountains of the Mexico-Arizona border area, as well as in southern Florida, United States; it is also found on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. This species is generally found below 4,500 ft (1,400 m) ASL and most common below 2,500 ft (760 m). It is replaced by the white-throated hawk (B. albigula) in the Andes of southern Colombia and south to central Argentina and Chile; the short-tailed hawk is found in the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Occidental of Colombia, while B. albigula occurs south of these locales. As far as is known, B. brachyurus is a year-round resident except that most of the Florida population migrates in winter... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Vitória | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Maceió | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 10 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoológico Dois Irmãos | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Amaru | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Everglades Alligator Farm | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Seaside Seabird Sanctuary | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Short-tailed Hawk sighting in Tikal National Park on a given day, based on 69 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 180th most-seen of the 300 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.
September
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Short-tailed Hawk in Tikal National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–March, May–August and October–December, the lowest months. That is one of Tikal National Park's wettest months, with about 170 mm of rain against 30 mm in February.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Short-tailed 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.
33rd of 71
Of the 71 parks where we can rate Short-tailed Hawk sightings, Tikal National Park ranks 33rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 30%), Everglades National Park (United States, about 20%) and El Triunfo (Mexico, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Short-tailed Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Tikal National Park (69 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.
