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Posted by Jeff Weber on 07:49:18 12/10/07
In Reply to: Great Black Hawk, Virginia Key, 12/7 posted by Toe
The late Juan Villamil and I saw a Great Black-hawk in early 1993, soaring high with Turkey Vultures over the nature trail across Old Cutler from Matheson Hammock. it had a distinctive white bow-tie mark at the base of the tail, visible from underneath. This was just after what they called the "100-Year Storm," and I believe it could have been an artifact of that storm, disoriented and moving up the Caribbean chain of islands from Venezuela. Misguided, perhaps, but I always thought that bird was a different one from the Virginia Key Great Black-hawk (which I have seen several times).
Regarding the Virginia Key GBH, it always seemed misguided to consider it an "escaped bird," since Crandon Zoo never had one (to my knowledge) and since no falconer would be inclined to keep a bird that hunts mangrove crabs.
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