Alternative names: Crested Hawk, Baza, Pacific Cuckoo-Falcon
- Aviceda subcristata
Identification
35–46 cm; long tail and prominent crest
- Grey head, neck and breast
- White underparts with bold dark banding
- Short legs
- Yellow eyes
The female is heavier and browner on the crown than the male.
Distribution
Northern and eastern Australia, Indo-Malayan peninsula, New Guinea and nearby islands and the Solomon Islands.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 13 subspecies[1]:
- A. s. timorlaoensis: Lesser Sundas and islands off Sulawesi
- A. s. pallida: Seram Laut (Manawoka and Gorong) and Kai Islands
- A. s. reinwardtii: South Moluccas (Boano, Seram, Ambon and Haruku)
- A. s. stresemanni: Buru (central Moluccas)
- A. s. rufa: Moluccas (Morotai, Halmahera, Ternate, Tidore, Bacan and Obi)
- A. s. waigeuensis: Waigeo Island (off northern New Guinea)
- A. s. obscura: Biak Island (off northern New Guinea)
- A. s. stenozona: Aru Islands and western New Guinea
- A. s. megala: Eastern New Guinea
- A. s. coultasi: Admiralty Islands
- A. s. bismarckii: Bismarck Archipelago
- A. s. gurneyi: Solomon Islands
- A. s. subcristata: Northern and eastern Australia
Habitat
Rain and swamp forests and forest edges, mangroves, grasslands, farmlands and urban areas. They prefer well-watered areas.
Behaviour
Diet
Omnivorous. Their mains diet includes large insects, particularly stick insects and mantids, frogs, lizards and fruit.
Breeding
The nest is flimsy and flat and made of sticks; it is placed high in the upper leafy branches of a tree. The clutch consists of 2-4 eggs. Both adults brood and feed the chicks.
References
- 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/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved December 2014)
- Birds in Backyards
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Pacific Baza. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Pacific_Baza
External Links