-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Chordates (Phylum Chordata)

-Vertebrates (Subphylum Vertebrata)

-Birds (Class Aves)

-Hawks, Eagles, Kites, and Allies (Order Accipitriformes)

-Hawks, Eagles, and Kites (Family Accipitridae)

-Buteonine Hawks, Kites, and Allies (Subfamily Buteoninae)

-Buteos (Genus Buteo)

-Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus)

Resident in tropical and subtropical Mexico south to Brazil and Argentina. In Mexico they usually occur as light morphs with brown upperparts and neat white underparts. These hawks hunt on high for birds, stooping down on them in sudden dives and picking them right off their perches, but they will also occasionally feed on rodents, small snakes, lizards, frogs, and large insects. Typically found in edge habitat where large open expanses of grassland, wetland, or farmland meet forests.