Hawk - Trinidad (1 Viewer)

Hi all,
These two (first picture) seen 2 weeks ago on North coast of Trinidad. Distant view in rainy weather through my scope. I have zoomed in and enhanced one as best I can (second picture). Through my scope both birds appeared to be all black. My best bet on ID is Common Black Hawk but neither bird shows any sign of the characteristic white banding on the tail.

Your thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers
John

Saw lots of Common Black Hawks along the north coast there last year.

That beak looks interesting though!!

Jon

Yep, Common Black Hawk.

Birdingcraft said:

Yep, Common Black Hawk.

Click to expand...

Thanks Patrick :t:

Great Black Hawk is supposed to be a relatively rare bird in Trinidad (as opposed to Tobago).

Niels

John,
I remember a similar sighting .... but on Northern Tobago with the rocky outcrop of St Giles in the background and a pair of roosting Great Black Hawks in a dead tree with the Caribbean behind.

I opened up your thumbnails before reading the text thinking the image was taken on Tobago -even convinced myself that the magnified image shows a shortish primary projection typical of Gt. Black Hawk! The memory is so similar to your image that it is uncanny .....but of course it's the wrong island!!

As Niels states GBH is a very scarce bird on Trinidad but is essentially the only Black Hawk on Tobago.