Roadside Hawk

How to find it

Look for it perched on roadside electric wires, telephone posts, fence posts and trees. It is not very active and is not bothered by people, so it is easy to watch. A perched bird can stay so still that it looks like part of a stump or snag, so scan dead perches carefully. Slow down at field edges and open farmland, where visitors on a boat trip toward Sarapiquí saw one on a sign in the middle of a field. Remember that in most parts of Costa Rica a hawk you notice is likely to be this one.

How to recognise it

Perched, this small hawk shows:

A gray head and upper breast, with rufous barring on the rest of the underparts.

An eye, cere (the skin at the bill base) and legs that are pale yellow. The eyes read as bright yellow circles with dark pupils against the pale gray head.

Brownish-gray wings and a white belly with brown stripes. Adults are about 15 inches long.

A bill that is yellow at the base and turns black toward the tip, and bright yellow feet.

In flight, look for rufous at the ends of the primary wing feathers. This is the key mark, because in flight it can be confused with several other raptors. The wings are short and rounded, and the tail is clearly banded.

What it sounds like

Recording: Hersson Ramírez, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It hunts by dropping from a low perch onto large insects, reptiles and small mammals, and only rarely birds. The Spanish name chapulinero refers to its habit of eating large insects such as grasshoppers, called chapulines in Costa Rican Spanish.

It seldom soars, and any soaring is brief and low. It is often fairly inactive and tame.

It nests during the dry season, building a small platform of sticks in a tree, in an open area or at a forest edge. The clutch is one or two eggs.

Where it lives

It is widespread and fairly common on both slopes, from sea level up to about 1,500 meters, and it sometimes climbs to 1,200 m. It prefers savannas, secondary growth, broken woodland and the edges of farm fields.

It can be found across Costa Rica, except possibly the heavily forested parts of the Talamanca mountains. It is a common resident of the northern Pacific lowlands and occurs in the Central Valley. On the Caribbean side it is common only around Río Frío and much of the northern region.

Similar birds

Migrant Broad-winged Hawks can look similar below and can be as common as Roadside Hawks. The Broad-winged is chunky where the Roadside is slim, and it lacks the rufous wing patches. The Gray Hawk is another common raptor of roadside wires and edges, but it has a clear whistled song, unlike the Roadside Hawk's raspy scream. Gray-lined Hawk replaces Gray Hawk south of Dominical.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican lists give the name Gavilán Chapulinero with the nickname Pata Podrida in brackets. Gavilán Pollero is also used in Costa Rica, but it clashes with the Broad-winged Hawk, which carries the same name.

Status and conservation

It is a resident on the AOCR list, rated Least Concern by the IUCN with an increasing population, and it is on CITES Appendix II.

Photography tips

Check roadside cables, telephone posts, fence posts and trees, where it sits in the open. Scan dead perches carefully, since a still bird can look like part of a stump or snag. The pale yellow eye stands out against the gray head, even on camera trap video.