Short-tailed Hawk, dark morph, adult. We saw this one recently in Ft. Myers, FL. Lucky us!
Here's a Short-tailed Hawk, light morph.
Short-tailed Hawk, light morph adult. We have seen two of these together this year over Bailey Tract, Sanibel, FL. double lucky us!
Saw the above Short-tailed Hawk, dark morph adult, soaring over a park in Ft. Myers, FL a few days ago when I was photographing the Least Bittern.
Short-tailed Hawk, is a sought-after Florida speciality for birders and not easy to see. This bird breeds primarily in southern and central Florida and a little in southern AZ and south TX.
The Short-tailed Hawk comes in two morphs, a light morph, shown here, and a dark morph. Dark-morphs are dark below with blackish brown body and wing coverts, paler flight feathers and tail, and dark trailing edge to wings. Short-tailed Hawks mostly soar and may hang in one spot for a time. We almost always see them in flight when we encounter them.