Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle

How to find it

Scan the sky over lowland and foothill rainforest, such as the Braulio Carrillo area. Forest edges, clearings and riverside habitats, and the open sky above them, are the best places to look. Good toucan sites with healthy forest are also worth checking, since this hawk-eagle preys on toucans. Fruiting trees full of tanagers and cotingas may be worth watching too. Even so, a lot of luck is needed.

How to recognise it

Adults have a white head, neck and body, with a small black crest and black around the eyes. That gives a strong black mask, which stands out even in flight.

The wings are black with a narrow white front edge. The tail is brownish with dark bars. The bill has a yellow base.

Adults have orange eyes and pale to bright yellow feet with black talons. Young birds have grey eyes.

It is about 51 to 61 cm long, and females are larger than males. It is smaller than a young Ornate Hawk-Eagle, with boxier wings, a shorter crest and a bold orange cere. It is built more like an Accipiter, with a longer-looking tail.

Behaviour and diet

It soars high until it spots prey, then dives into the canopy. In Costa Rica it tends to stay so high overhead that it is easily missed.

It likes to hunt along ridges and forest edges. It eats birds such as oropendolas, aracaris and tanagers, plus mammals and reptiles. In Costa Rica it is one of two hawk-eagles that prey on toucans.

Where it lives

It lives in lowland forest and needs large stands of closed-canopy forest. It does not tolerate fragmented habitat well and rarely goes far into the uplands. Across its whole range it occurs from sea level up to about 1,500 m.

In Costa Rica, birders look for it over lowland and foothill rainforest. Large tracts of primary forest are needed to have a chance. It is often seen near forest edges, clearings, gallery forest and riverside habitats in humid lowlands.

When to see it

In Central America nesting appears to run roughly March to June, in the dry season. Birds may be more active in the air then, but that does not mean they are easier to see.

Similar birds

The narrow white line along the front edge of the wing stands out against the all-dark upper wing, which helps separate it from other black-and-white raptors in flight. A young Ornate Hawk-Eagle looks similar, but has pale lores, a yellowish cere and heavy black barring on the flanks and thighs, while this species has a black mask. Black-faced Hawk has a similar mask but is smaller, has bare legs and white-spotted upperparts, and does not soar. Juvenile Grey-headed Kites can mimic hawk-eagles, but the kite has bare legs and a dark eye, while hawk-eagles have fully feathered legs and a yellow-orange eye.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Spanish names given for this bird include Águila Albinegra, Águila Marcial, Águila Viuda, Águila Enmascarada and Aguilillo Blanco y Negro. Costa Rica's wildlife guide lists it as Águila albinegra.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), but sightings in Costa Rica have dropped over the past twenty years and it has vanished from several areas.

Photography tips

Keep a wide view of the sky and scan open edges, since the bird is far more often overhead than perched. The black mask stands out even in flight, so look for it when a white-bodied raptor passes.