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Eurasian Goshawk - BirdForum Opus

Adult female
Photo © by Mike Warburton
South Wales Valleys, UK, June 2022
Accipiter gentilis

Identification

Immature of subspecies gentilis. Photo © by jbpixels
Munich, Germany, 2021

46–63 cm (18-25¾ in) Large, robust accipiter.

  • head proportionately small but neck long
  • tail long, narrow with rounded tip
  • Wings quite short and rounded
  • supercilium bold, white

Adult

  • above blue-grey (intensity varies: may appear lead-grey)
  • crown and ear coverts blackish
  • underparts pale, finely barred with grey

Immature Brown above and streaked below

Similar species

Female Eurasian Sparrowhawk (which see).

Distribution

A widespread species in the Western Palearctic breeding from northern Africa and Iberia east to the Black Sea and Caucasus and north to the UK, northern Scandinavia and Arctic Russia; also found further east in Asia to China, Mongolia, South Korea and Japan.

Taxonomy

Juvenile of subspecies A. g. fujiyamae
Photo © by stoop
Fukushimagata, Niigata, Japan, October 2009

Formerly considered the same species as American Goshawk under the name of Northern Goshawk.

Subspecies

Clements recognises the following subspecies [1]:

1st Year Plumage
Photo © by jbpixels
Near Oberpfaffenhofen Airport, Germany,September, 2021

Habitat

2nd year juvenile, in moult, subspecies gentilis
Photo © by lovejoy
Derbyshire, March 2017

Deciduous or coniferous woodland interspersed with open areas. Often over more open country in winter.

Behaviour

Action

They often sit upright, with a hip-heavy outline. They fly at tree-top level with slow wing-beats interspersed with short straight glides.

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of small and medium sized birds and mammals, even capercaillie and hares.

Breeding

They nest high in a tree, about 10-15 m up. They often re-use the nest.

Vocalisation

Usually silent, sometimes lets out a loud kak-kak-kak-kak-kak when disturbed.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. Avibase
  4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved March 2017)
  5. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

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