English             -               Black-collared hawk

Portuguese     -               Gavião Belo

Latin                -                Busarellus Nigricollis

Always enjoy photographing birds of prey and the Black-Collared Hawk was no exception when I visited the Pantanal in Mato Grosso do Sul.  I saw this bird on numerous occasions and found it a really easy bird to photograph. A species that doesn’t seem too concerned with close human contact and I was able to get relatively close to a few of them and take some close up photos. I saw the majority of them when travelling on a dirt road called MS184. The above photos of the Black-Collared Hawk were taken at different locations in the Pantanal on different days. The first 2 photos are of adult Black-Collared Hawk and the third photo is of a juvenile.

* The female Black-Collared Hawk is larger than the male.

* It has a length of 58 cm, weighs around 829 gr. and has a wingspan of up to 143 cm. 

* The Black-Collared Hawk is considered to be quiet, except when breeding when it lets out a pig-like squeal. 

* It has a large range which spreads from central Mexico, all the way south to Uruguay.

* Its preferred habitat is dense, wooded, humid, vegetated area with an immense amount of water, such as forests, swamps, mangroves, and rice fields.  Preferred water sources are rivers, ponds, and lakes with floating vegetation and easily accessible perches.

* Black-Collared Hawks hunt out of the water, and thus eat a variety of water-going animals.  Their diet mostly consists of fish, but will regularly feed on frogs, snakes, snails, turtles, and small water-savvy mammals.

* The nesting behaviour of the Black-Collared Hawks is poorly known but it builds a nest in tall trees or in mangroves. The nest is a bulky platform made with sticks. The interior is lined with green leaves. It is usually situated near water, at about 12-15 metres above the ground. The female lays 3 - 5 greyish-white egg spotted brown and dark grey.

* The Black-collared Hawk is common in suitable habitat in most parts of its wide range. Some declines have accord occur, due to drainage of wetlands in parts of its range, however, this species is not threatened at this moment. Therefore it is classified as a species “of least concern” on the IUCN red list.