White-necked Hawk

42 - 48cm. A chunky hawk. In flight has broad wings and a short tail. The adult"s head, neck and undersides white: secondaries barred grayish on base: upperside mainly dark slate, sparsely marked with more or less concealed white spots and bars: upper tail coverts prominently barred with white and mottled on the outer webs: basal half of the tail black, rest of the tail white with a narrow subterminal band: iris brown: bill gray: feet yellow.<nThe immature is similar, but darker, more blackish above with more white spots: head and hindneck streaked black. <nJuveniles have wing coverts and scapulars tipped with rufous brown, basal half of tail irregularly barred with white.

A high, drawn out ziii.....ziii .

Hunts in the subcanopy of dense forest mostly for insects, sometimes soaring over the forest.

Rare. More easily seen in the Northern forests of the Litoral.

Atlantic forests of the coast. In Estado S<C4>o Paulo reported from <8E>Pariquera Acu, Ubatumirim. In Estado Rio de Janeiro it is rare in the <8E>Serra dos Org<C4>os Cachoeira de Macacu, March 2006, ^201 .

When sitting note that the white tips of the secondaries so prominent in /Leucopternis polionota are missing. Wingtips shorter than the tail. When flying note the black subterminal tail band and the black trailing edge of the wings.