While birding in the north western side of Nariva Swamp on Plum Road I was looking at an adult Savanna Hawk on the south side of the road I put down my binoculars to look around when I saw what at first I thought was another Savanna Hawk (SH), which was a bit closer standing on the ground on the north side of the road. It was standing very upright with long legs like a SH. The first thing I noticed to rule out SH that it was black, not brown, then I saw it was notably larger than the SH since I realized it was actually further away than the SH I was originally looking at.
I got the scope out and got some details: Its head, neck and breast were mostly black with small spots of brown. The wings and back were black.
Legs were pale yellow
Basal half of beak was pale yellow and the front half was black. The beak was notably larger than Savanna Hawk’s; much more like an eagle, which gave it that stern look of an eagle.
Eyes were brown.
While on the ground I saw it only from in front so I only got glimpses of a large white band on the rump and tail, however it eventually flew and I saw that the basal half of the tail was bright white, then it had a broad black band, and the tail ended with a thin white band.
This was by far my best sights of Great Black Hawk, what a maginificent bird.
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