BROAD-WINGED HAWK.
(Buteo latissimus.)
½ Life-size.
FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.
THE BROAD-WINGED HAWK.
(Buteo latissimus.)
And up through the rifled tree-tops
That signaled the wayward breeze
I saw the hulk of the hawk becalmed
Far out on the azure seas.
—James Whitcomb Riley, “A Vision of Summer.”
The Broad-winged Hawk has a wide range, including the whole of North America, east of the great plains and extending from New Brunswick and the Saskatchewan region on the north to Northern South America on the south. It nests throughout its range within the borders of the United States.
Its confidence in man is not surpassed by that of any other hawk. Dr. Fisher says that “of all our hawks this species seems to be the most unsuspicious, often allowing a person to approach within a few yards of it, and when startled flies but a short distance before it alights again.” As a rule it is a very quiet bird, but during the nesting period it is fully as noisy and demonstrative as are many of the other hawks. If disturbed while on its nest its shrill call notes will soon attract its mate, when both will continue noisily complaining till the intruder retreats. Though solicitous for their eggs or young, they will never attack a person. It is said that “for days after they have been robbed these birds will utter their complaints when anyone approaches their homes.” They are good parents, both sexes assisting in the care of the eggs and young.
Not infrequently this Hawk will sit for hours on the dead top of a tall tree at the edge of a forest, and with its body erect and motionless will often seem almost a part of the tree. Its food is usually procured on the ground, and it is near the ground or among the denser growths of the forest, where it may find insect larvæ, that it is more often seen.