Rufous Crab Hawk

The rufous crab hawk is 42.5 to 46 cm (17 to 18 in) in overall length with a 90 to 106 cm (35 to 42 in) wingspan. Males weigh 506 to 665 g (18 to 23 oz); females are heavier and weigh around 725 to 945 g (26 to 33 oz). Males and females have the same plumage. Adults' head, throat, and neck are sooty black and their back is dark rufous with light rufous edging. Their underparts are rufous with fine dark barring. The tail is black with a white tip and a thin white band. Their eyes are brown and their cere and feet are yellow to dusky orange. Immatures have brown to blackish brown upperparts, a grayish tail, and white underparts with dusky streaks.

The rufous crab hawk is found on Trinidad and on the South American mainland along the coast from the Orinoco Delta in Venezuela through the Guianas and into Brazil as far as the southeastern state of Paraná. It primarily inhabits mangroves but also occurs in swamps, wet savanna, and river edges near the coast, all essentially at sea level.

The rufous crab hawk's diet is mostly, and possibly entirely, crabs (e.g. Callinectes and Ucides). It catches them with a short dive from a low perch; it typically takes them to a favored site like a stump to consume them.