Vinous-breasted Sparrowhawk
Tachyspiza rhodogaster
A small hawk with yellow eyes, a lime-green bill base, and yellow legs. Adults are slate-gray above with a vinous breast and dirty white belly and thighs. Immatures are rufous above with diagnostic bold blackish spots and bars and heavily streaked pale underparts. Does not soar. Found primarily in forest from coast to mountains, but also in mangroves and woodlands. Confined to Sulawesi and nearby islands, including the Banggai and Sula Islands. Adult mostly inseparable from Small Sparrowhawk except by call, but largest female Vinous-breasted are longer-bodied, larger-billed, longer-tailed, and longer-toed than largest Small Sparrowhawk. Pale eyes separate Vinous-breasted from Spot-tailed Goshawk and from adult Chinese and Japanese Sparrowhawks. Absence of white tail spots further distinguishes it from Spot-tailed Goshawk, and unbarred thighs separate it from adult Japanese Sparrowhawk. Heavily marked underwings further differentiate it from Chinese Sparrowhawk. Call is a “kew-kew-ke-ke-ke-ke, lower-pitched than Small Sparrowhawk.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Tachyspiza rhodogaster
- Authority
- (Schlegel, 1862)
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Tachyspiza
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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