Zone-tailed Hawk

The Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) is a medium-sized hawk of warm, dry parts of the Americas. It feeds on small vertebrates of all kinds (other than fish), including birds up to the size of quail.

Grown birds are 47–55 cm (18.5–21.5 inches) in length with a wingspan of about 1.2 m (4 feet); their average weight is 810 g (1.8 lbs). Adult plumage is mostly blackish except that the flight feathers are barred with lighter gray (appearing solid gray from a distance) and the tail has three or four bands or "zones", white from below and light gray from above, of which the one second from the tip is particularly broad and conspicuous. The cere and legs are yellow. Immatures are similar except for small white spots on the breast and tails with narrow gray and black bands and a broad dark tip. The Zone-tailed Hawk adults resemble the Common Black Hawk but are smaller and have more white bars on the tail.