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Grey Goshawk - BirdForum Opus

Grey morph
Photo © by Neil
near Sydney, Australia, November,2003
White morph
Photo © by peterday
Bruny Island, Tasmania Australia, December,2021
Accipiter novaehollandiae

Identification

44–55 cm; two colour morphs, white and grey
Grey morph

  • Grey head and upperparts
  • Dark primaries
  • Grey barring on breast and tail
  • White underparts

The white morph is completely white

Both sexes have dark eyes and orange-yellow legs

Distribution

Asia and Australasia:
Southeast Asia: found in Indonesia
Australasia: New Guinea, Australia: (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia), Melanesia and the Solomon Islands.

Taxonomy

White morph
Photo by mehdhalaouate
Numfor, West Papua, Indonesia, October 2005

This is a monotypic species1.

Habitat

Their preferred habitats are rain and open forests and forest edges, tall woodlands; adjacent open countryside and timbered watercourses.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of birds and small mammals such as rabbits, possums, and bats. They also take snakes, lizards, frogs and insects.

Breeding

The grey and white morphs interbreed freely. They are monogomous and stay with their partner for life. Breeding takes place from July to December.

They build their nest in tall trees on a platform of sticks and twigs with a central depression lined with green leaves. The clutch consists of 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by the female for about 35 days. Chicks fledge 35-40 days after hatching. The male provides the food for the female to feed to the young.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Avibase
  3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved March 2015)
  4. Wikipedia

Recommended Citation

External Links

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