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Crane Hawk (Geranospiza caerulescens)
[order] Falconiformes | [family] Accipitridae | [latin] Geranospiza caerulescens | [UK] Crane Hawk | [FR] Buse échasse | [DE] Sperberweihe | [ES] Azor Zancón | [IT] Sparviero trampoliere | [NL] Langpootkiekendief | [SU] Langafutu-aka
Characteristics
- Geranospiza caerulescens nigra. Mexico (except north-west), south to the Panama Canal Zone. The adult is slaty black with a glaucous cast. The tail has a white tip and two prominent white bars. The belly, thighs and wing linings have indistinct white tips. The inner vane of each primary has a white spot, forming a bar when the wing is spread. The eyes are crimson; the bill black; the lores and cere are deep grey; the legs orange-red.
- Geranospiza caerulescens livens of North-western Mexico is larger and paler; deep grey rather than greyish black.
- Geranospiza caerulescens baizarensis of the Pacific slope from eastern Panama to north-western Peru is similar to G. c. livens, but smaller. The young are more extensively marked with buffy white below, and the under-tail coverts are a rich buff.
- Geranospiza caerulescens caerulescens of eastern Colombia and Ecuador, Venezuela, Guiana, and Brazil as far south as the Amazon Valley is paler than any of the preceding races; with or without some whitish barring on belly and thighs. The young are very extensively mottled below with yellowish buff.
- Geranospiza caerulescens gracilis resides in North-eastern Brazil, as far south as Bahai. It is uniformly and sharply barred below grey and white (the barring is sometimes absent from the throat and chest). The wing coverts, upper and lower, are also barred to some extent. There is less black, and more tawny on the tail. The young are buffer below.
- Geranospiza caerulescens fiexipes of Southern Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina and Bolivia is larger and paler than G. c. gracilis.
| wingspan min.: | | cm | wingspan max.: | | cm |
| size min.: | 43 | cm | size max.: | 51 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 0 | days | incubation max.: | 0 | days |
| fledging min.: | 0 | days | fledging max.: | 0 | days |
| broods: | 0 | | eggs min.: | 0 | |
| | | | eggs max.: | 0 | |
Click items below to expand
The Crane Hawk can be found in the tropical lowlands from Mexico to eastern Bolivia, northern Argentina and Paraguay. This is a bird of tropical lowlands, preferring the vicinity of water, even if only a brush lined creek reduced to scattered stagnant pools.
It is perhaps at its most common in scrub or deciduous tropical woodland with small streams or pools, like in the ranch-lands of north-western Costa Rica, the dry forest of northern Venezuela, or the chaco. In its display it flaps and soars in tight circles, then climbs abruptly and immediately drops sharply. It also will sit in the top of a tall tree, flopping its tail to keep its balance and calling.
In Mexico the nests are built in cypresses in creek bottoms, often with sub-arid vegetation nearby, about 50 feet up in very tall cypresses, either next to the trunk, or far out on a limb. Nests have also been seen in Surinam some 35 feet up in a shady tree among coffee. Nests are small open cups of small twigs and vine stalks; lined with grass, weed stalks, small twigs, usually lined with some green leaves. Eggs are plain white; like a harrier's. Lizards, snakes, large insects, spiders and tree frogs predominate. Small birds, such as parrots, are sometimes pulled from the nest. This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 15,000,000 km2. It has a large global population estimated to be 100,000-1,000,000 individuals (Ferguson-Lees et al. 2001). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern. Very little data available, thought to be sedentary. article number 1 Title
Nesting of the Crane Hawk in Surinam.
Author(s): F. HAVERSCHMIDT
Abstract: Crane Hawk (Gevanosfiza caerulescens) in_ habits the mangrove forests along the coast of Surinam. It is found near water in light forests and in cultivated areas about the coffee plantations. Very lit..[more]..
Source: The Condor, 66(4)
download full text (pdf)
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