Great Black Hawk

How to find it

Raptors in Costa Rica are mostly forest birds and are not often seen soaring in the open, so go to areas with extensive forest and travel with a guide. One Costa Rican birding writer says this hawk has become uncommon and only occurs in high quality habitat, such as the edge of Braulio Carrillo National Park. The Osa Peninsula and Corcovado National Park have extensive forest, and a birding writer rates the chance of seeing it there as good. The Caribbean slope route uphill through Cinchona and Varablanca could also turn one up, though that is a maybe. Scan the sky above woodland as well as the perches.

How to recognise it

This is a heavy, long-legged hawk with broad wings and a short tail. It measures about 66 cm and weighs about 1.1 kg.

Adults are dull black. The thighs and wing linings are usually barred white. The cere is yellow and the lores are slate.

The upper tail coverts are white. The tail has a broad white middle band and a narrower, sometimes poorly defined white band at the base.

Immatures are dark brown above with spots and streaks. Below they are buff with dark spots, and the tail shows several dark bars.

What it sounds like

Recording: Sebastián de Jesús Herrera Buenfil, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It sometimes hunts from a high perch in an isolated tree and scans the ground, as the Common Black Hawk does, but it takes larger prey: reptiles, birds, mammals and crabs. At Palo Verde, one was seen hunting nestling Bare-throated Tiger-Herons in July 1988. It often perches motionless for long periods, then strikes. Costa Rican accounts say it is usually solitary, though one says it forms small flocks, so reports differ. In the breeding season it flies high in circles, alone or in pairs. A young bird recorded on the Oropéndola trail in the Pocosol sector of Bosque Eterno de los Niños called for over 30 minutes.

Where it lives

It lives in wooded areas and forest edges, and also uses semi-open country, especially along rivers and streams. It is found widely on both slopes, in the lowlands and middle elevations. One account says it locally reaches about 1200 m, while a Costa Rican awareness page says up to 1600 m. In well-forested middle elevations it outnumbers the Common Black Hawk, but it is much scarcer along the coast. Photos show its spread: Palo Verde National Park in Guanacaste, Playa Tortuga in the Osa area near sea level, and Finca Ecológica San Luis in Monteverde.

When to see it

A nest seen in mid-February held a one-week-old chick. In mid-May a nest held a large chick almost ready to fly.

Similar birds

The Common Black Hawk is the close lookalike. The Great Black Hawk is larger and longer-legged, with white-barred thighs, while the Common Black Hawk has solid black thighs, a pale-based bill and shorter legs. Check the tail: the Great Black Hawk shows two white bands counting the base, while the smaller Common Black Hawk has one very wide band in the middle. Immatures also resemble each other, but the Great Black Hawk has dark lores and a much more finely barred tail.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican names include Gavilán Negro Mayor, Aguilucho and Gavilán Silbero, the whistling hawk. The Common Black Hawk is called Gavilán Cangrejero, so the Cangrejero nickname on the AOCR list means crab hawk. Elsewhere in Latin America it is also called Águila Negra or Aguililla Negra.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list codes it as a resident (R), and in Costa Rica it is uncommon.

Photography tips

It often perches motionless for long periods while scanning the ground or water edge, and is described as somewhat more approachable than other large raptors. Look along rivers and streams, and keep an eye on the sky too.