Broad-winged Hawk

How to find it

For the migration, head to the Caribbean side and the road toward Sarapiquí, which is suggested for migrating raptors. The best conditions for watching are between 7:30 am and 1 pm, when flight height is roughly 375 to 2,500 m above the ground. Look up on sunny days, when the hawks often glide. Each October the Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica holds a talk and guided hawk-watching outings. For winter birds, scan forest edges and low trees, where they are often hidden in the branches.

How to recognise it

Look for a small, stocky hawk with black-and-white bands on the tail. The wings are short and broad and taper to a pointed tip. Body length is about 32 to 44 cm.

Seen from below in flight, it has:

- a nearly white body

- wings with dark flight feathers

- a bigger head and sturdier build than a Turkey Vulture, though it is smaller

- broad wings and a short square tail

It rarely flaps. When perched, the wing tips reach past the tail and it has a dark bib. Dark-morph birds are often seen, so do not expect every one to look pale.

What it sounds like

Recording: Dan MacNeal, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It hunts by dropping onto prey from a perch at a forest edge or in a low tree. It is usually solitary, but it migrates in big flocks. Those flocks sometimes mix with Swainson's Hawks or Turkey Vultures, circling in thermals to gain height and then gliding to the next thermal.

Many Broad-winged Hawks stay for the winter, but they do not often soar in the open. The migrating flocks pass through without lingering.

Where it lives

It lives in open areas, forest edges, deciduous and evergreen forest, savanna and pasture. Outside Guanacaste it seldom enters intact forest, so look at edges and in open country.

As a winter resident it is common on both slopes, from sea level up to at least 2,000 m. In migration it favours the moister Caribbean slope, with a large autumn passage through the Caribbean lowlands.

When to see it

Autumn migrants are abundant from late September to mid-November on the Caribbean slope and in the highlands. In spring they pass on both slopes from early March to late May. Caribbean coastal plain raptor migration runs from August to November and generally peaks in the first half of October.

Similar birds

Swainson's Hawk is larger and often joins Broad-winged Hawks in migrating groups, though it tends to follow the drier Pacific slope. The Roadside Hawk looks very much like it, but is a year-round resident with a gray head, a brown-striped belly and yellow feet, and it often sits on posts and poles. Roadside Hawk is Costa Rica's other abundant small hawk and is closely related.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans call it Gavilán Aludo, and also Gavilán Pollero or simply Gavilán, which is just the Spanish word for hawk. Gavilán Pollero is also used for the Roadside Hawk, so it can cause mix-ups. One Costa Rica writer prefers Gavilán Chapulinero for the Roadside Hawk to avoid this.

Status and conservation

It is a migrant (M) on the AOCR list, a common winter resident, and globally Least Concern with an increasing overall population.

Photography tips

Look up on sunny days, when these hawks often glide and are easiest to catch soaring. Migrating flocks pass without lingering, so be ready early in the morning.