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Posted by Robin Diaz on 08:52:11 12/08/07
In Reply to: Great Black Hawk, Virginia Key, 12/7 posted by Toe
A (The?) Great Black-Hawk was seen recently on 2 CBC's (2004 and 2005) and I saw it perched near Bear Cut on 12/7/06! [A perched dark-morph Short-tailed Hawk on last year's CBC pretended to be the Great Black-Hawk.] According to experienced birders Wally George and Mickey Wheeler, historical sightings on Virginia Key go back to the late 70's and 80's and an immature was seen at one time.
There are 2 races of Great Black-Hawk and the one we see on Virginia Key is urubitinga, usually found in western Panama and in South America, as far south as Paraguay. Instead of 2 white stripes on the tail, this race has white on the basal half of the tail.
Looks like December 7 should be designated as the Annual Great Black-Hawk Hunt. Celebration at Jimbo's!
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