Sighting Record for Utah

		No Photos
Common name:	Broad-winged Hawk
Scientific name:	Buteo platypterus
Date:	June 21, 2018
Time:	10:00 a.m.
Length of time observed:	5 min
Number:	1
Age:	Adult
Sex:	Unknown
Location:	Farmington Canyon
County:	Davis
Latilong:	41°00'09.68" 111°52'45.9"
Elevation:	5,200 ft, below the bird
Distance to bird:	75-125 yards
Optical equipment:	8 x 42 binos
Weather:	Clear and sunny
Light Conditions:	Bright; bird soaring NNE of observer
Description: Size of bird:	Just smaller than a Peregrine
(Description:) Basic Shape:	Raptor with broad wings and medium-length fanned tail
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	Brown and white body, white wings with black accents, black and withe tail
(Description:) Bill Type:	Not observed.
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	From eBird checklist posted same day as sighting: Bird soaring over rocky cliffs NE of the ATV trailer parking lot along Farmington Canyon Road at about these coords: 41°00'09.68" 111°52'45.9", being dive-bombed by an American Kestrel. Clearly a light morph buteo, but compact. Brown head becoming whiter through the breast and belly with no clear line of demarcation until completely white at lower belly and around feet. No belly band. Wings broad from leading to trailing edge; wing coverts and remiges white underneath with black wing tips and black border to trailing edge. No black patagium. Tail bold with three thick bands visible: black-white-black. Sun shone through the white band like a beacon. Then, joined by a soaring Peregrine Falcon; BWHA's wings clearly more broad leading-to-trailing edge and more rounded than the long tapered shape of the PEFA's; wingspan clearly shorter than PEFA's also. Also, hawk flapped more than a Red-tailed Hawk flaps, but less than the flap-flap-flap-glide of an Accipiter or Red-shouldered; no discernible pattern of the limited flapping, either.
Song or call & method of delivery:	None heard.
Behavior:	Soaring
Habitat:	Open space above dry foothills and deep wooded canyon with a stream.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	Bold three-band black-white-black tail pattern eliminates all non-Buteos and Red-tailed Hawk. Size just smaller than the Peregrine conveniently soaring with it eliminates remaining Buteos. Underwing pattern also unique among Buteos: white underwing lacking dark leading edge, plus black wing tips and bold black band on trailing edge is BWHA-only.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	Many Broad-wings in my youth at New England hawkwatch sites; Red-shouldered Hawks rarely in Utah and other states; daily Red-tails; no other similar Buteos.
References consulted:	Sibley, Wheeler, Wheeler and Clark, Liguori
Description from:	Notes made later
Observer:	Kristin M. Purdy
Observer's address:	Ogden, Utah
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	None.
Date prepared:	July 6 from eBird checklist notes posted the day of the sighting, June 21.
Additional material:	eBird Checklist
Additional comments:	I'm submitting this record as a special sighting given the dearth of Broad-winged Hawk reports in eBird in the Intermountain West in June and July. Prior to posting the June 21, 2018 eBird checklist, Utah had not yet logged a summer BWHA in the system. Most Intermountain West states have recorded only one in the June/July timeframe. Now, New Mexico remains the only western state without a summer BWHA sighting in eBird.