Featured Species: Black Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus)

Black Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus)

The Black Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus tyrannus) is a large, black raptor of Neotropical forests. Its preferred habitats include humid and moist forests close to rivers, and several types of Woodland, and is found from central Mexico to eastern Peru, the south of Brazil, and far northern Argentina. They prefer semi-open areas, second growth forests, river areas and forest ridges, but have also been found in extensive forests.

Individuals often soar high overhead, where they attract attention with sharp, whistled calls. They feed on mammals, birds, and reptiles, taken largely from trees and detected from a perch. Though light and small compared to other eagles, this bird is a powerful predator that frequently hunts relatively large prey. It mainly eats large rodents, opossums and monkeys, as well as, occasionally, bats and birds, including large birds such as toucans, and chachalacas, and snakes and lizards. 

It exhibits a conspicuous crest on the crown, of black feathers with white bases.