This hawk lives near the coasts of Cuba. It often eats crabs and may scavenge dead fish. An older study used a subspecies combination; this entry follows the current species name.
Adults appear dark brown-grey to slate grey, with a pale patch on the outer wing and a clear white band near the end of the tail. Juveniles differ in plumage.
It uses coastal mangroves and palm savanna. It searches from a perch or on the ground for crabs and small vertebrates, and may scavenge dead fish. A study on Isla de la Juventud found land crabs to be the most frequent prey in its observations.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.