I’o (Buteo solitarius) the Hawaiian Hawk
This hawak is the only hawk native to the Hawaiian islands. It is only found on Hawai’i island.
The hawk comes in a dark and light morph. The adaptation of the Hawaiian hawk is that their body colors blend within trees and plants, and they have big talons to catch fish.
This solitary hawk remains in and defends its territories year round. They nest from March through September, and usually lay only one egg but sometimes they could lay up to three in their clutch. The female does the majority of sitting during the 38 days of incubation, while the male does the majority of the hunting. After the egg is hatched, the female only allows the male to visit when delivering food to the nest. The chick fledges at seven or eight weeks. Fifty to seventy percent of the nests successfully fledge young.
The ʻIo usually hunts from a stationary position, but can also dive on prey from the air. It feeds on rats, small birds, stream animals, crickets, praying mantises, millipedes, centipedes, lizards such as Jackson chameleon, and occasionally worms. It will also feed on the Hawaiian crow, a Hawaiian bird which is extinct in the wild. They are opportunistic predators and are versatile in their feeding habits. They have a shrill and high-pitched call much like their Hawaiian name: "eeeh-oh." They are very noisy during the breeding season. ʻIo are strong fliers.
The Hawaiian hawk was a royal symbol in Hawaiian legend, and it is sometimes called “ʻiolani,” or “exalted hawk”, which was the name of Kamehameha IV and the ʻIolani Palace.
These hawks were photographed about a mile from my urban home.
