Sparrowhawk

Short Description

A sparrowhawk can be identified from its rather long wings and its long, often unfanned tail.

Males have grey-blue upper parts. The underside is transversely striped in white and some red.

Females are twice as heavy and noticeably larger. Their upper parts are grey-brown and the white underparts have transverse black stripes.

Juveniles have dark-grey upper parts with dark-brown and pale-grey patches. Their dirty-white underparts are coarsely barred with black-brown wedge-shaped patches.

Features

Sparrowhawk

Accipiter nisus

transverse stripes on underparts

Rufreihe

Tembrock, CC BY-SA 3.0

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Similar species

Northern goshawk

Accipiter gentilis

Goshawks are noticeably larger and more powerful. They have smaller eyes and an obvious white eye stripe, which is not very marked in sparrowhawks. In flight, they can be recognised by their straighter and less fluttering flight. Goshawks are also flying higher in the canopy zone

Peregrine falcon

Falco peregrinus

The peregrine falcon can be recognised by its black cap and moustachial stripe. It is altogether more powerfully build with a shorter tail. The transversely barred underparts are more pale in colour.

Kestrel

Falco tinnunculus

The kestrel is more reddish in colour. Males have a grey head. In flight, kestrels can be recognised by their characteristic hovering flight.

In the city

Sparrowhawks are increasingly often seen in an urban environment in parks, cemeteries and large gardens. As a bird of prey, they follow the species that are attracted by the plentiful food supply in towns. Particularly in winter, they find a lot of small birds here that are amongst their prey.

Fun Facts

Because of the difference in size between males and females, they also hunt birds of different sizes. The advantage of this is that males and females do not compete for the same prey.
Sparrowhawks can be observed from early March to September. They spend the winter in southwest Europe and tropical Africa. However, some sparrowhawks hibernate in Germany.
Endangerment level Germany: not endangered

Sources

Männchen, Eddy Van 3000, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accipiter_nisus_kill.jpg

Weibchen, Meneer Zjeroen, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accipiter_nisus_Meneer_Zjeroen.jpg

Jungtier, Accipiter, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accipiter_nisus_Forst_Jungfernheide_080610.jpg

Svensson, L. (2011) Der Kosmos Vogelführer - Alle Arten Europas, Nordafrikas und Vorderasiens, Stuttgart: Franckh Kosmos Verlag.

Witt, K. & Steiof, K. (2013) Rote Liste und Liste der Brutvögel von Berlin, 3. version, 15.11.2013. : Berliner Ornithologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft e.V. (eds.) Berliner Ornithologischer Bericht, volume 23, Berlin: Berliner Ornithologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft e.V., 1-23.

Page „Sperber (Art)“. : Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Date of last revision: 13.11.2015, 07:52 UTC. URL: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sperber_(Art)&oldid=147990864 (Accessed: 17.02.2016).

Artenfinder (2016) Accipiter nisus (Sperber), URL: https://arteninfo.net/elearning/voegel/speciesportrait/2896 (Accessed: 23.04.2016).