- Accipiter superciliosus
Identification
20 cm-26.5 cm. Dark slate grey above, mottled grey face, paler grey supercilium, black crown and nape, white underparts with fine gray barring, unmarked throat, dark long tail with three paler gray bands, yellow legs, grey bill, red or red-brown iris. Adult females are similar, but browner above with buffier underparts and browner barring below.
Immature birds come in two colour morphs: the more common brown and the much rarer rufous. Brown morph birds are dark brown above, finely barred with black, and buff below, heavily barred with cinnamon. Rufous morph immatures are more chestnut above, and barred with rufous on the underparts. They also have duskier heads and brighter rufous tails than do brown morph birds. Yellow iris.
Distribution
From eastern Nicaragua through Central America and South America to western Ecuador, and east of the Andes to northern Bolivia, northern Argentina, Paraguay, southern, eastern, and north-eastern Brazil.
Taxonomy
There are two subspecies: A. s. superciliosus is found east of the Andes in South America. Slightly the larger of the two subspecies, it is paler and has diffuse, greyish barring on the underparts. A. s. fontainieri is found from Nicaragua down to western Ecuador. It is somewhat smaller and darker than the nominate A. s. superciliosus, with a shorter tail and sharper, blacker barring below.
Habitat
Humid, wet lowland forests.
Behaviour
The diet includes birds, especially hummingbirds and small passerines.
They build stick nests in the canopy of tall trees. 1-3 bluish-white eggs, faintly streaked and spotted with brown, are laid.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Tiny Hawk. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Tiny_Hawk
