Birds & Birding in Costa Rica: – Costa Rica’s national motto and tourism slogan, “La Pura Vida” loosely translates to Live Life or Enjoy Life. With over 900 bird species recorded in Costa Rica, there is certainly lots to enjoy! With 12 of the world’s 18 life zones, its diverse landscapes, including tropical rainforests, cloud forests, mangroves, and savannas, provide habitat for a wide range of iconic birds A Reflections of the Natural World Blog Post Series by Jim Gain
ABOUT THIS SPECIES
ZONE-TAILED HAWK – (Species Account Blog #96)
TAXONOMIC TREE:
- ORDER: Accipitriformes,
- FAMILY: Accipitridae,
- BINOMIAL NAME: Buteo albonotatus
The Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) is a medium-sized hawk of warm, dry parts of the Americas. It is somewhat similar in plumage and flight style to a common scavenger, the Turkey Vulture, and may benefit from being able to blend into groups of vultures. It feeds on small terrestrial tetrapods of all kinds. (from Birds of the World)
SIMILAR SPECIES
While perching or flying around breeding areas, most often confused with Turkey Vulture, with which it associates, but Zone-tailed smaller, shows broader, dark-feathered head, dark trailing edge to underwing, more bulging secondaries, and (although not always visible) light tail-bands.
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION
PERSONAL OBSERVATION ANECDOTES
In Costa Rica we observed 1 Zone-tailed Hawk while we were on the Tárcoles–Tour en Bote river trip.
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PHOTO GALLERY
**Some of these Photo Gallery images (all taken by me) have been taken in other nearby countries.
RECENT BLOG POSTS
View the five most recent Birds & Birding in Costa Rica series blog posts below.
- A Streak-headed Woodcreeper Feeds its Offspring Near the Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica
- PALE-BILLED WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
- SMOKY-BROWN WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
- HOFFMANN’S WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
- BLACK-CHEEKED WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
Reflections of the Natural World 
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