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Broad-winged Hawk

Status Uncommon in summer, fairly common transient, very rare in winter. Breeds. First migrants are generally sighted in late April or early May (average 2 May, earliest 10 April), and they are seen in small numbers throughout the province during summer. Small groups of non-breeding birds in immature plumage are sometimes seen on Brier Island in early summer, but autumn flights begin in late August. The peak of movement in the fall generally occurs between mid-September and early October, with occasional stragglers until late November. Noteworthy concentrations on Brier Island have included an estimated 3000 on 3-4 October 1968 and 1500-2000 on 26 September 1983; five immature birds have been reported in mid-to-late December since 1967. One of these was later found dead near River Philip, Cumberland County, on 2 January 1979; another was photographed during the Halifax East Christmas Bird Count on 17 December 1983; and an injured bird was captured near Sydney on 16 December 1983 and subsequently restored to health.

Most unusual was an immature bird that resided in and around Wolfville between 23 January and 4 February 1983 and was well studied and photographed by many observers. The source of the sometimes abundant migrants in the province, especially along Digby Neck and on Brier Island, is presumably from farther west, perhaps from beyond New Brunswick, where the species is said to be an "uncommon summer resident" (Squires 1976). North Mountain, beginning at Blomidon, Kings County, producing thermal air currents to sustain these hawks in their soaring migrations, may guide them to the southwest, ultimately concentrating them on Brier Island, whence they depart across the Gulf of Maine when the weather is suitable.

Description Length: 35-47 cm. Adults: Upperparts dark brown without bluish tinge. Tail dark brown with two light bands across it. Underparts dull rufous brown irregularly barred with white, the rufous being more uniform towards the breast. Immatures: Dark brown above and whitish below; striped on sides of breast, flanks and abdomen with dark brown. Tail grayish brown, usually crossed by several dark brown bars.

Breeding Nest: Made of sticks, at low elevation in trees of both soft and hardwood growth. Eggs: 2-4; dull buffy white, blotched and washed with cinnamon-brown; occasionally unmarked. Harry Brennan has supplied the following accounts of three nests he examined in Pictou County: on 17 May 1964, 5 m up in a yellow birch in woods of mixed growth, three eggs. On 8 May 1965, about 6 m up in a medium-sized maple, birds scolding but nest empty; on 22 May it contained four eggs. On 10 May 1965, a nest at Irish Mountain was about 6 m up in a yellow birch; not examined until 23 May when it contained three eggs. The only other nest of the species in Nova Scotia that has come to my attention was one containing two eggs found near Halifax on 23 May 1952 by Kenneth Beanlands, situated about 5 m up a dead tamarack tree.

Range Breeds from central Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south to the Gulf Coast and Texas. Winters from southern Florida through Central America to Peru. Additional races occur in the West Indies.

Remarks This rather sluggish, slow-flying hawk is endowed with an unsuspicious nature. These unfortunate traits too often led to its untimely end by the gun of an uninformed hunter who shoots all hawks indiscriminately. This hawk's diet of insects and small rodents makes it beneficial to man.