Buteo plagiatus

Formerly treated as conspecific with the allopatric B. nitidus under the English name Gray Hawk, but separated on the basis of differences in vocalizations, plumage, and morphology (Millsap et al. 2011) (AOU 2012). Formerly (AOU 1998) placed in the genus Asturina (with B. nitidus), but mitochondrial DNA sequence data indicate that recognition of the genus Asturina renders Buteo paraphyletic (Riesing et al. 2003).

Once limited by widespread loss of riparian habitat in the U.S. to logging, this species has rebounded there but is still subject to on-going loss of riparian habitat from ground water extraction. This species is widespread and common in Mexico and Central America.

This species occurs from southeastern Arizona, western and southern Texas, and occasionally southwestern New Mexico (USA), south into Mexico along the coastal Gulf of California through Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, and northern Michoacan occurring more sparsely south and east along the coastal mountains of Sierra Madre Del Sur. Its range also includes eastern Mexico from the U.S. border south along the Gulf of Mexico and lower Sierra Madre Oriental mountains east through Tabasco and Campeche and throughout the Yucatan peninsula. This species range continues south through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and northern Panama (Bibles et al. 2020). Based on analysis of locations from research-grade iNaturalist records in the Global Biological Information Facility (GBIF 2022) recorded during the breeding season (April through August; all years), the breeding range extent of this species is about 3,261,165 km2.

The number of occurrences of this species is unknown but is likely several thousand breeding sites.

Loss of forests to logging was considered a serious threat reducing and fragmenting remaining riparian habitat used by breeding gray hawks. Some logging of mesquite (Prosopis sp.) and cottonwood (Populus sp.) forests continues in the U.S. There is strong evidence that depletion of ground water for anthropogenic uses has eliminated habitat in some areas in the U.S. Ground water depletion lowers the water table and reduces water availability for the riparian breeding habitat. Finally, grazing within riparian areas in the U.S. (and probably in some areas of Mexico) prevent establishment and recruitment of nest trees, reduce understory vegetation, and effect stream flow dynamics often impairing riparian function. The severity of these threats like vary between populations, and the species has few threats in Central America.