Roadside Hawk, Rupornis magnirostris

Roadside Hawk, Rupornis magnirostris. Photograph taken in the coastal region of Costa Rica, February 2016. Photograph courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

The Roadside Hawk, Rupornis magnirostris, is a member of the Accipitridae Family of Eagles and Hawks. They are mid-sized in stature. In Mexico they are found in the coastal regions within the Atlantic Slope from Tamaulipas to Belize and within the Pacific Slope from Mazatlán, Sinaloa to Guatemala normally at elevations below 1,000 m (3,300 feet). From a conservation perspective the Roadside Hawk is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are found along the edges of tropical lowland forests, deciduous forests and desert. They primarily consume insects with their diet supplemented with a wide variety of small prey including reptiles and small mammals.