Little sparrowhawk
| Little sparrowhawk | |
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| At Phinda Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Accipiter |
| Species: | A. minullus |
| Binomial name | |
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Accipiter minullus (Daudin, 1800) |
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| Synonyms | |
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The little sparrowhawk (Accipiter minullus) 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 (Accipiter erythropus).
The little sparrowhawk is, as its name suggests a very small bird of prey which is also distinguished by two white spots on the underside of its central tail feathers and by a narrow white patch on the lower rump. It is sexually dimorphic and the male has dark grey upperparts, which can appear almost black, this colour extending on to the cheeks to contrast with the white throat. The underparts are white barred with fine rufous bars. The females are overall browner on the upperparts and the underpart bars are also browner and less fine than the male. The juveniles are browner overall with pale tips to the upperpart feathers and is spotted with grown below rather than barred and the rump feathers have only the tips white, and shows dark. In adults the bill is black, the long legs and long toes are yellow, the cere is yellow and the eyes are deep yellow; in juveniles have a yellowish-green cere and brown eyes. The length is 23–27 cm (9.1–10.6 in); the wingspan is 39–50 cm (15–20 in), the male weighs 74–85 g (2.6–3.0 oz) and the female 68–105 g (2.4–3.7 oz).
The little sparrowhawk occurs in eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa from Ethiopia south to the southern Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Angola, south as far as the eastern Western Cape in South Africa.
The little sparrowhawk is a woodland bird which can be found in patches of woodland and scrub, typically along river valleys. In drier areas it can be found in open areas such as fynbos and grassland, also in suburban gardens.
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Wikipedia