- Morphnarchus princeps
Identification
51–57 cm (20-22½ in)
- Slate black head, upperparts, and chest
- Underparts and wing-linings white with fine black barring
- Black, short, square tail with complete median white band
- Brown iris
- Yellow cere and legs
Juveniles similar with white scaling on wing-coverts
Distribution
Found from Costa Rica and Panama south to Ecuador and Peru.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Formerly placed in the genus Leucopternis.
Habitat
Canopy and edges of humid mountain forests. Rarely seen on Colombian coastal plains.
Behaviour
They sit on exposed perches at forest edges; usually alone though sometimes in pairs or small groups.
They soar high above the forest, calling frequently and performing aerial displays.
Diet
Their diet consists of snakes, frogs, large insects and crabs; occasionally mammals and birds. In forest interiors they ambush their prey when it comes close to their perch (a practise known as still-hunting).
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2014. IOC World Bird Names (version 4.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- TrekNature
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2016)
- BF Member observations
- Birdforum thread discussing among other things the reassignment of this species to new genus
- Restall
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Barred Hawk. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 21 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Barred_Hawk
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
