What Do Black Hawks Eat?

Video Transcript

"The common black hawk is a species that is quite rare in the United States. It just gets into the bordering areas of Arizona and Texas, but it is quite common in Central America, northern South America. Like a lot of raptors it feeds on snakes, it feeds on insects, it feeds on small mammals. Black hawks spend a lot of time also in wetland areas. So that they will take things like even fish, they will actually land on the ground in shallow water, and hop around in the water and catch fish, tadpoles, things of that sort. In areas where they are near the coast they will take crabs. So they are really quite a generalist in terms of the kind of foods that they eat. You will often see them very high in the air, often in pairs. Soaring around, they are quite vocal as birds of prey go. And then you will suddenly see them sort of drop down, and occasionally they will even catch birds that may be in the canopy of the trees. This sort of thing. So they are a fairly versatile feeder, but they are not as specialized as some other kinds of birds of prey that may just feed on fish, or may just feed on insects if they are small species, or birds or whatever."