How to Identify a Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)

• Tail: Adult: the only eastern buteo with broad black-and-white tail bands, paired with a dark back and reddish chest
• Body pattern: Juvenile: narrow tail bands (the last one thicker) and dark blotches on the sides of a white chest
• Size compared with look-alikes: About the size of a Crow; a chunky, compact raptor, one of the smaller buteos
• Behavior clue: Migrates in large flocks called 'kettles,' traveling southwest or south around (not across) the Gulf of Mexico
• Size: Length 13-17 in (33-44 cm); wingspan 2 ft 8 in-3 ft 3 in (81-99 cm)

Broad-winged Hawk is smaller and more compact than Red-shouldered Hawk, with shorter wings and tail, and shows broad (not narrow) black-and-white tail bands as an adult The Red-shouldered Hawk page lists its own marks.

Breeds typically in deciduous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forest, often near water and near clearings or edges Breeds across Eastern Canada, the Great Lakes, New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Plains/Rocky Mountains; migrates to Central and South America for winter

Migrates in large flocks called 'kettles,' traveling around rather than across the Gulf of Mexico

Raptors are usually far away and against the sky, so expose for the bird, not the sky, and take several frames as it turns: the tail shape, wing shape and underwing pattern show best in flight. For a perched bird, get the head and chest in one frame. Size is hard to judge alone; compare with a nearby crow, gull or fence post. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above.