Our Resident Broad-winged Hawks

Chip

Date Brought to Sharon Audubon Center: August 1999

History: The Center received Chip from another local wildlife rehabilitator.  Chip had been hit by a car and suffered from a wing and eye injury.  Chip's eye could not be saved, so veterinarians removed it and he is no longer able to sustain flight due to his wing injury. He now resides with another Broad-winged Hawk in their outside aviary.  Chip received his name from his continuous call: "chip, chip, chip!"

Pteros

Date Brought to Sharon Audubon Center: August 2000

History: Pteros, (pronounced Tare-os) meaning "Winged God," arrived at the Center after being struck by a car in Woodbury, Connecticut.  Pteros became completely blind in the left eye and was determined unreleasable.  The word "pteros" comes from the second half of the species name for Broad-winged Hawk: Buteo platypterus.

Broad-winged Hawk

(Buteo platypterus)

Average Height: 1- 1 ½ feet

Average Weight:  1 pound

Wingspan:  2 ½ - 3 ½ feet

Lifespan:  5-10 years in wild

Description:  The Broad-winged Hawk, a very common crow-sized woodland hawk, is the smallest buteo in North America.  It is dark brown above and barred underneath, with silvery-white wings with black tips.  The tail usually has broad, equally-sized bands; three black and two white.

Call:  The call of a Broad-winged Hawk is a high pitch whistle, which often sounds much like a Wood Pewee: "Pee--weee."

Range:  The Broad-winged Hawk covers most of the eastern United States and into Canada from Nova Scotia west to Alberta.  They are not usually found west of the Great Plains.

Habitat:  Broad-wings prefer large hardwood forests or mixed coniferous-hardwood forests near lakes, streams and swamps.

Diet:  This small, woodland hawk eats many small mammals, insects, amphibians and reptiles.  Some of their diet includes frogs and toads, snakes, red squirrels, chipmunks, some small birds, caterpillars, grasshoppers and crickets, earthworms, and crayfish.