White-browed hawk

The white-browed hawk and the black-faced hawk (L. melanops) are sister species and have sometimes been considered conspecific. They share genus Leucopternis with the semiplumbeous hawk (L. semiplumbeus). The white-browed hawk is monotypic.[3][2]

Illustration by Josephe Smit, 1869

The white-browed hawk is 37 to 40 cm (15 to 16 in) long with a 65 to 76 cm (26 to 30 in) wingspan. Females are larger than males and both sexes have the same plumage. They have a dark head with a narrow white stripe above the eye. Their upperparts are black with white streaks on their nape and mantle. Their tail is black with a wide white band at the midpoint. Their underparts are white. Their eye is brown or reddish brown and their cere, legs, and feet are orange.[5]

The white-browed hawk is found south of the Amazon River. It occurs in eastern Peru between the departments of Loreto and Madre de Dios, in northern and northeastern Bolivia, and in Brazil to the Atlantic coast in Pará state. It inhabits tropical rainforest between sea level and 500 m (1,600 ft) of elevation.[5]

The IUCN has assessed the white-browed hawk as being of least concern. It has a large range but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] The species is poorly known, "but so much forest in its extensive range remains intact that [the] species can not be considered of immediate concern."[5]