Gray Hawk (Buteo nitidus costaricensis) Five subspecies have been described, one has been synonymized leaving four recognized subspecies. Two occur in Costa Rica, subspecies costaricensis and subspecies plagiatus. Subspcies costaricensis is found in the southwestern part of the country while subspecies plagiatus is found in extreme northwestern Costa Rica. I photographed this hawk on the edge of a large marsh just inland from the Pacific Coast northwest of Jaco, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica. Freshwater marsh at ca. 10 m elevation (32.8 ft) elevation. Sexes similar. The caption was derived from the horrible background that I could do nothing with, it was so distracting you could not look at the bird without your eyes being drawn to the background so I finally just made it all black just to keep from looking at it.
