| Eastern chanting goshawk | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Awash National Park, Ethiopia | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Melierax |
| Species: | M. poliopterus |
| Binomial name | |
| Melierax poliopterus Cabanis, 1868 | |
The eastern (pale) chanting goshawk (Melierax poliopterus), or Somali chanting goshawk, is a bird of prey of East Africa.
This species is intermediate between the smaller dark chanting goshawk (widespread to the west and south) and the pale chanting goshawk (southern Africa) in colour, size, and leg length, but not in range. It has often been considered a subspecies of the latter, but because of this disparity between geography and characters, it is now considered a separate species, [2] as agreed by many authorities. [1] [3] [4] [5] [6]
This species averages 49 to 55 cm (19 to 22 in) long, with a wingspan of 96 to 110 cm (38 to 43 in) and a tail length of 20 to 25 cm (7.9 to 9.8 in). Males average 85 percent the size of females. Like the other chanting goshawks, it resembles an accipiter but the tail is shorter and graduated (the feathers increase in length from the edges to the center), and the wings are broader. [2]
Adults have grey head, neck, breast, and upperparts, except for the white or lightly barred uppertail coverts. The belly has narrow grey and white bars and the undertail coverts are white. The belly and wing linings are white, the secondaries are light grey, and the primaries are dark, giving an impression from below of a white bird with grey head and dark wingtips. The tail is blackish above and white below with grey bars. The cere is yellow, and the legs are orange-red. Juveniles are dull brown above with a pale stripe over the eye. They have white underparts with brown streaks on the throat and breast, brown bars on the belly coverts, and faint or no barring on the undertail coverts. The tail is brown with widely spaced darker brown bars. The rump is white, partially barred or unmarked. They are indistinguishable from some juvenile dark chanting goshawks except for the less barred undertail coverts and rump. Also, the legs are slightly longer at all ages than the dark chanting goshawk's. [3]
It is often found in semidesert, dry bush, and wooded grassland up to 2000 m in southern Ethiopia, Djibouti, western Somalia, eastern Kenya, northeastern Tanzania, and adjacent Uganda. [2]
The eastern chanting goshawk is usually seen in large groups of up to 16, they will always hunt in a pack and ration their finds amongst each other. [2] It often perches on the tops of mountains and other rocky environments. [2] [3] Its wingbeats are shallow and "straight-arm". It holds its wings flat, or sometimes in a C, when it glides. [2]
Its calls are "a melodious piping rhee-opee-opee-opee, and a short low-pitched kleee-yeu", slightly higher-pitched than those of the dark chanting goshawk, [3] or "pereu-pereu-pereu-repee-repee-repee-repee..." in the nesting season, the source of its name. [2]
It will hunt large insects, such as beetles, small to medium-sized birds (such as doves), and rodents. However, its favorite prey seems to be lizards which it will often snatch up off the ground after swooping down upon them from an exposed perch. Though not common, this species will also feed on carrion from time to time. [7]
The desert wheatear is a wheatear, a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher (Muscicapidae). It is a migratory insectivorous species, 14.5 to 15 cm in length. Both western and eastern forms of the desert wheatear are rare vagrants to western Europe. The western desert wheatear breeds in the Sahara and the northern Arabian peninsula. The eastern race is found in the semi-deserts of Central Asia and in winter in Pakistan and northeast Africa.
The sharp-shinned hawk or northern sharp-shinned hawk, commonly known as a sharpie, is a small hawk, with males being the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, but with the species averaging larger than some Neotropical species, such as the tiny hawk. The taxonomy is far from resolved, with some authorities considering the southern taxa to represent three separate species: white-breasted hawk, plain-breasted hawk, and rufous-thighed hawk. The American Ornithological Society keeps all four variations conspecific.
The dark chanting goshawk is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which is found across much of sub-Saharan Africa and southern Arabia, with an isolated and declining population in southern Morocco.
The red goshawk is probably the rarest Australian bird of prey. It is found mainly in the savanna woodlands of northern Australia, particularly near watercourses. It takes a broad range of live prey, mostly birds.
The long-tailed hawk is an African bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is the only member of the genus Urotriorchis.
Dickinson's kestrel is a bird of prey of southern and eastern Africa belonging to the falcon family Falconidae. It is named after John Dickinson, an English physician and missionary who collected the type specimen. It is also known as the white-rumped kestrel. Its closest relatives are the grey kestrel and banded kestrel and the three are sometimes placed in the subgenus Dissodectes.
The hooded mannikin or hooded munia, also known as the New Britain mannikin or Sclater's mannikin, is a species of estrildid finch found in New Britain and New Guinea.
The pale chanting goshawk is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. This hawk breeds in southern Africa and is a resident species of dry, open semi-desert with 75 cm or less annual rainfall. It is commonly seen perched on roadside telephone poles.
The augur buzzard is a fairly large African bird of prey. This species is distinct in typical adult plumage for its blackish back, whitish underside and orange-red tail, while juvenile augur buzzards are generally rather brown in colour; however a dark morph is known, which causes the bird's entire body to become darker. This member of the Buteo genus is distributed in several parts of the central and southern Africa, normally being found from Ethiopia to southern Angola and central Namibia. It is resident and non-migratory throughout its range. This is a species of mountains, and adjacent savannah and grassland. This is a typical buteonine raptor, being a generalist predator which tends to prefer small mammals supplemented by reptiles and birds among various prey items.
The Barratt's warbler or African scrub warbler, is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It is found in eastern South Africa, Lesotho, eastern Zimbabwe and adjacent western Mozambique. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
The red-thighed sparrowhawk, alternatively known as the red-legged sparrowhawk or western little sparrowhawk, is a species of sparrowhawk in the family Accipitridae from western and northern central Africa.
The little sparrowhawk is a species of Afrotropical bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is the smallest member of the genus Accipiter and forms a superspecies with the red-thighed sparrowhawk.
The Congo serpent eagle is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Dryotriorchis, although it was formerly placed in Circaetus. This species is distributed across the African tropical rainforest, including upper and lower Guinean forests. This serpent eagle specializes in hunting in these forests’ dark understories. It has two subspecies, the nominate subspecies Dryotriorchis spectabilis spectabilis and Dryotriorchis spectabilis batesi. Though monotypic, it appears to be very closely related to Circaetus. This hawk is a medium-sized bird with distinctive short, rounded wings and a long, rounded tail. It is varying shades of brown on its back and has a slight crest. Its breast is white with variable amounts of a rufous wash and, in the nominate subspecies, is covered in round, blackish spots. The subspecies D. s. batesi only has these dots on its flanks. The Congo serpent eagle closely resembles Cassin's hawk-eagle, and some ornithologists believe that this likeness is a rare example of avian mimicry. It is a very vocal raptor, and often is one of the most heard species in its habitat.
Ayres's hawk-eagle, also referred to as Ayres' eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is native to African woodlands. Its name honors South African ornithologist Thomas Ayres.
The gabar goshawk is a small species of African and Arabian bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.
Eversmann's redstart, also known as the rufous-backed redstart, is a passerine bird belonging to the genus Phoenicurus. It was formerly classified in the thrush family Turdidae but is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It was described by the German biologist Eduard Friedrich Eversmann who is commemorated in the bird's English name.
The rosy bee-eater is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo.
The bearded scrub robin, also known as the eastern bearded scrub robin, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa.
The Abyssinian wheatear, or Abyssinian black wheatear, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found from Ethiopia to southern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania.
Goshawk may refer to several species of birds of prey, mainly in the genus Accipiter:
Media related to Melierax poliopterus at Wikimedia Commons