Frances's Sparrowhawk
Tachyspiza francesiae
Typical small sparrowhawk with a gray or brown back and pale underparts. Females are much larger than males and show reddish barring below. Smaller male is pale-chested. Found in open forest, scrub, plantations, and even villages. Usually seen sitting on an open perch or dashing through the trees; rarely soars. Small, pale male is distinctive, but female and brownish immature very hard to separate from some Madagascar Sparrowhawks. On Frances’s Sparrowhawk, look for fine bars on the undertail, reddish chest barring, a single dark stripe down the center of the throat, and a short central toe.
Identification
Frances's sparrowhawk is grey with a light belly. It has orange eyes and feet, a yellow cere and a black beak. The size of each hawk varies from 28 – 35 cm for a male and 104 – 140 g for a female 112 – 185 g and their wingspan is around 40 – 54 cm. The races from the Comoro Islands are smaller and more rufous than the nominate from Madagascar.<p>Both sexes of the Anjouan sparrowhawk resemble the male of the nominate race of Frances's sparrowhawk from Madagascar, but are markedly smaller and lack most of the barring on the underside. Males have a wingspan of 135–149 millimetres (5.3–5.9 in) and a tail 99–188 mm (3.9–7.4 in) long, while females are larger, having a wingspan of 155–163 mm (6.1–6.4 in) and a tail length of 113–125 mm (4.4–4.9 in). Both sexes have white underparts, grey upperparts, dark-greyish wings, and dark barring on the tail.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Tachyspiza francesiae
- Authority
- Smith, A, 1834
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Tachyspiza
Range and habitat
Frances's sparrowhawk is found in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands. They live in dense forests, large gardens, parks and coconut plantations. They live mostly on the edges of forests.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The hawks feed on a range of prey including mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, and large insects. They knock small mammals, lizards and frog off trees or trunks of trees to shock them and then make the kill. They generally attack flying insects and birds flying straight towards the prey and catching them in mid-flight.<p>The sparrowhawks build large stick nests in the upper fork of large trees usually 5 - 15m from the ground. The location of the nests change from year to year and they usually breed in October to December the clutch varies from 3 - 4 eggs they measure around 37 x 29 mm but the average survival rate of the eggs is 1.5. Eggs usually have different and unique marking on them. The eggs are usually a greyish-white.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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