Broad-winged Hawk
By: Danny Gibbs
The scientific name for the Broad-winged Hawk is Buto platypterus.
A Broad-winged Hawk has a light breast and belly, also has a dark brown back. The adult has a long horizontal strip of reddish underneath while the baby's strip runs vertically and is browner. The tail of the grown-up is brown to gray with liberal white stripes the young bird's tail is brown with a light black terminal band. In all ages the genders look alike.
The Broad-winged Hawk is from eastern deciduous forests and is not found west of the Rocky Mountains. It is found in the north from Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south through North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa to eastern Texas, through the Gulf coast to northern Florida. Some of the population also can be found in some of the islands of the Caribbean. You will be able to find the hawk in Newcastle, Wyoming in the county of Weston. They can be found all year long but best in the summer months. Watch for them along the main road coming in to Newcastle from the north.
The Broad-winged Hawk is found in thick, unbroken forest land, the Broad-winged Hawk uses parts of woodlands for nesting that the Red-tailed Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk do not. They are often found eating near clearings created by roads, trails, or wetlands. During the winter the hawk migrates to Central and South America. While migrating, they can be seen over places like Hawk Ridge in Duluth in large groups in numbers up to 8,000-10,000 per day.
Display of whistling calls and territorial advertisement including soaring and swooping flights by both members of the pair are included in their courtship. Broad-winged Hawks make a small nest using sticks in the fork of a deciduous and sometimes a coniferous tree. For two years the nests are rarely used. The female will lay 2 to 4 eggs and sit on them for 31 days.
Prey is used by the Broad-winged Hawk in various ways. Their diet consists primarily of chipmunks, shrews, and voles during the nesting season. Also, common are frogs, lizards, and nestling birds. In South America insects, lizards and frogs make up the majority of their diet in the winter. They hunt directly from their perches and also while they are in flight.
The Broad-winged Hawk is considered to be one of the most common in North America with over 1 million birds making up the population. In the Midwest they are very common with up to 62 thousand recorded in a year's time flying over Hawk Ridge in Duluth. Having no special conservation status in Minnesota, like all hawks and owls they are protected by state and federal law.
The Jackalope is a native animal of Wyoming. No Jackalope has ever been captured alive in the twentieth century. Some people think it is the human scent, but no one knows for sure.
You can get a non-resident hunting license from the Converse County Chamber of Commerce located in Douglas, Wyoming. The jackalope may be hunted on June 31st between sunrise and sunset only. The Jackalope runs over the prairies at lightning speed, and is hardly ever seen.
Some people have been able to extract the Jackalope's milk as it sleeps belly up at night. It is useful for people experiencing too many Mondays, two left feet, bad work attitudes, selective deafness, and baldness or graying of hair. You may drink the milk, or mix it with egg whites and use it like shampoo.
The Jackalope has been quoted to be able to read the future. It is also a big mimic. It can make any noise it hears, even a car!