Saturday 27 August 2016

Crested Goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus)

OTHER NAMES: Asian Crested Goshawk, Ceylon Crested Goshawk
Latin Etymology: Accipiter ("to grasp") trivirgatus ("three stripe")

Adult Female Crested Goshawk (subspecies A. t. indicus) at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - July 2016

Featured Subspecies: Accipiter trivirgatus indicus
Weight: 224-450g  /  Length: 30-46cm  /  Wingspan: 65-85cm
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The Crested Goshawk is a medium sized species of raptor that I came across entirely unexpectedly - we were walking along the road from our Kuala Lumpur hotel as we did every day but just as we crossed an overpass, there was a large amount of squawking from house crows around - clearly something they didn't like was around.  Upon looking into the tree above me, my initial impression was of a huge thrush - the bold streaking on it's chest certainly very reminiscent of a song thrush.  However, it quickly became apparent that it was this impressive raptor species. As is usual with raptors, the female is the larger of the two.

Related Species:
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Accipiter
SUBSPECIES: A. t. indicus, A. t. peninsulae, A. t. layardi, A. t. formosae, A. t. trvirgatus, A. t. niasensis, A. t. javanicus, A. t. microstictus, A. t. palawanus, A. t. extimus, A. t. castroi

 - Sighting Locations -
MALAYSIA - Malay - Helang Sewah Besar ("Large Sparrow-hawk Eagle")
A widespread resident
 - MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE 2016 TRIP: A single bird in Kuala Lumpur

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red ListRSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto  

No comments:

Post a Comment