Alternative name: African Little Sparrowhawk
- Tachyspiza minulla
Accipiter minullus
Identification
23–27 cm. Grey with lightly barred underparts.
Distribution
Southern, central and eastern Africa: Cameroon through Central African Republic, Sudan and Ethiopia to Somalia, and south to South Africa.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Originally described as Falco minullus Daudin, 1800, Gamtoos River, South Africa. Some authorities place this species in genus Accipiter, others in Tachyspiza.
Subspecies
This is a monotypic species[1].
Some authorities recognize a second subspecies, T. m. tropicalis which is described as paler and found in coastal East Africa from south Somalia to the Zambezi river, .
Habitat
Woodland and forest.
Behaviour
Diet includes small bats, lizards, and insects.
It builds a small stick nest of twigs lined with green leaves, high in a tree fork. Two eggs are laid and incubated for 31 days; fledging after about 26 days.
References
- 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, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Lepage D. 2008. Avibase. Search for "Little Sparrowhawk" downloaded 30 May 2008.
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Little Sparrowhawk. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 21 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Little_Sparrowhawk
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
