Gundlach's Hawk

The hawk is a medium-sized forest raptor. It stands between 43–51 cm (17–20 in) in height and has a stocky body shape. The adult hawk has a dark bluish-gray upper body and wings, with a black head. The under body of the bird is a lighter color. It also has a striped tail that is rounded in flight. Immature hawks are mostly brown on the top and paler on the bottom, but with dark streaking down the body. Compared to some other raptors of the genus Astur such as the bicolored hawk and cooper's hawk, Gundlach's hawks are longer and faster.

Voice. Gundlach's hawks has two main calls the kek and the "squeal" which is usually associated with species of its type, Astur. The vocalizations for these calls are different for the sexes with variations in pitch, tempo and length. The male call is softer, clearer, and shallower with a higher peak compared to the female who makes most of the calls and whose call is at a softer pitch.

Gundlach's hawk is found only in Cuba. At one point it was common to find them throughout the country, however, now they can only be found in five isolated areas. The bulk of the population exists primarily on the eastern half of the island, in the two larger population centers, with the other three smaller populations on the west side of the island. They are able to live in a variety of habitats up 800 metres (2,600 ft). These include humid, dry, and pine forests. It does not have highly specialized habitat preferences needing only forests to conceal its hunting approaches Its natural habitats are dry forests and lowland moist forests. The species was never a common sight, but its population was dispersed throughout Cuba.

Gundlach's hawk feeds almost exclusively on birds. Because of the hawk's large feet, it can feed on the Cuban parrot, the Cuban parakeet, and the Cuban macaw (before its extinction). Other birds in its diet include doves and pigeons, quail, and chicken.