Eurasian Sparrowhawk

The Eurasian Sparrowhawk is a small, secretive Accipiter (true hawk) found across most of Europe, temperate Asia, and North Africa. It shows dramatic reversed sexual size dimorphism: females can be almost twice the mass of males, allowing the sexes to specialize on different prey sizes.

Appearance

• Adult males: blue-grey upperparts with fine orange-rufous barring below and orange cheeks.
• Adult females: browner-grey above with grey-brown barring below, larger and bulkier than males.
• Juveniles: brown above with coarse, chunky barring or spotting below.
• Bright yellow to orange eyes and long yellow legs with slender toes.

Key field marks

• Short, broad, rounded wings and a long, square-tipped tail with 4-5 dark bands
• Flight is a distinctive 'flap-flap-glide' low over hedges and through gaps in cover
• Small head barely projects beyond the wing in a soaring silhouette
• Yellow-orange eyes visible at close range

Similar species

• Eurasian Goshawk is much bulkier with a more prominent head/neck projection, broader wings, and a heavier, more powerful flight; adult goshawks show a bolder pale supercilium.
• Common Kestrel has longer, more pointed wings and habitually hovers, unlike the Sparrowhawk.
• Merlin is smaller and stockier still with pointed falcon wings and direct dashing flight rather than flap-glide.

Habitat

Breeds in coniferous, deciduous, and mixed woodland, shelterbelts, and wooded farmland; hunts along woodland edges, hedgerows, and increasingly in suburban gardens where it ambushes birds at feeders.

Range

Widespread resident and partial migrant across Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia to Japan. Northern and eastern populations move south in winter, while many western European birds are largely resident.

Migration

Scandinavian and other northern breeders migrate to southern and western Europe for winter; British and Irish birds are mostly sedentary.

Behavior

An ambush hunter that relies on surprise, flying low and fast along cover before flipping over a hedge or through trees to snatch a bird off guard. Also still-hunts from a concealed perch.

Voice

Mostly silent outside the breeding season. Near the nest gives a fast, chattering 'kew-kew-kew-kew' alarm call, and a softer 'peee-uu' contact call.

Feeding

Feeds almost exclusively on live birds caught on the wing, from tits and finches (taken mainly by smaller males) up to pigeons and thrushes (taken by larger females); plucks prey at a favored 'plucking post'.

Nesting & breeding

Builds a flat stick nest in a tree, often against the trunk in a conifer; lays 4-5 pale bluish-white eggs with red-brown blotches; female does almost all incubation while the male provisions her with food.