Order Falconiformes / Family Accipitridae APPENDIX II

Parabuteo unicinctus (Temminck, 1824) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Code A-213.003.050.001 1996 (1)

Common names: engl.: Harri's Hawk, Bay-winged Hawk esp.: Busardo mixto fr.: Buse de Harris de.: Wüstenbussard

Scientific synonyms: Falco unicinctus Temminck, 1824

Characteristics: Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi

Adult: Female larger than male.

Measurements: Total length from tip of bill to tip of tail: 48-56 cm (P.u. superior); length of wing from bend of folded wing to tip of primaries: male 310-352 mm, female 325-370 mm; length of tail from fold of skin between central tail-feathers to tip of longest tail-feathers: male 207-230 mm, female 213-243 mm.

Weight: Male c. 725 g, female 834-1,047 g.

General appearance: General colour brown, chestnut on shoulders and thighs. Tail black, white at tip and base. Wings rather long. Tail long and rounded.

Head: Blackish or sooty brown.

Upperparts: Blackish or sooty brown.

Underparts: Blackish or sooty brown. Thighs bright chestnut.

Wings: Blackish or sooty brown. Shoulders and under-wing coverts bright chestnut.

Tail: Black, white at base and tip. Upper- and under-tail coverts white.

Legs: Bright yellow.

Eye: Iris dark brown. Eyelids bright yellow.

Cere: Bright yellowish.

Bill: Horn bluish, with black tip.

Immature: Like adult, but underparts vaguely streaked with whitish. Feathers of upperparts more or less edged with rufous. Outer tail feathers obscurely barred. Iris brown. Legs dull yellow.

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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Text: Jean-Pierre Biber, Basle Drawing: Christine Hippenmeyer, Bern Submitted by the Management Authority of Switzerland

Distribution: Seasonally dry desert, Chaco and savanna, up to 1,500 m. Central and South America. P.u. harrisi: SW USA through NW Mexico and Central America (except Belize and Honduras) to W Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. P.u. unicinctus: NE Colombia and W Venezuela south through E Bolivia and central NE Brazil to S Argentina.

Population:

Wild population: Not globally threatened. Common in many parts of range.

Captive population: According to the International Zoo Yearbook 15 birds bred successfully in captivity in 1993.

Trade: According to the statistics of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre 2 dead and 108 live specimens in trade in 1993 and 42 live specimens in 1994.

Intraspecific variation: Two subspecies recognized: P.u. harrisi: Description see above P.u. unicinctus: Below lightly flecked with white. Thighs barred with dusky. Immature buffy or whitish below, coarsely streaked with dusky. Throat and superciliary white or buff. Smaller than harrisi.

Similar species: Adult unmistakable. Immature could be confused with immatures of Buteogallus (sheets A-213.003.008.001 - A-213.003.008.004 et A-213.003.032.001) species, but is distinguished from them by white upper-tail coverts.

Bibliography: Brown, L. & Amadon, D. (1989) Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of the World. Wellfleet, Secaucus. Del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. (1994) Handbook of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. New

World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Editions, Barcelona. Weick, F. & Brown, L.H. (1980) Birds of Prey of the World. Collins, London.