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Accipiter badius
The Shikra is very similar in appearance to other sparrowhawk species. They have a sharp two note call and have the typical flap and glide flight. Their calls are imitated by drongos and the Common Hawk-Cuckoo resembles it in plumage. Juveniles have dark streaks and spots on the upper breast and the wing is narrowly barred while the tail has dark but narrow bands. They have short rounded wings and a narrow and somewhat long tail. Adults are whitish on the underside with fine rufous bars while the upperparts are grey. The lower belly is less barred and the thighs are whitish. Males have a red iris while the females have a less red (yellowish orange) iris and brownish upperparts apart from heavier barring on the underparts. The females are slightly larger. The mesial stripe on the throat is dark but narrow. In flight the male seen from below shows a light wing lining (underwing coverts) and has blackish wing tips. When seen from above the tail bands are faintly marked on the lateral tail feathers. The central tail feathers are unbanded and only have a dark terminal band. They feed on rodents, squirrels, small birds, small reptiles and insects. Small birds usually dive through foliage to avoid a Shikra and a Small Blue Kingfisher has been observed diving into water to escape. Babblers have been observed to rally together to drive away a Shikra. They will descend to the ground to feast on emerging winged termites, hunt at dusk for small bats-Wikipedia.
The Shikra is found in a range of habitats including forests, farmland and urban areas-Wikipedia.
Seen this one near many sparrows. My first doubt was that this should be an Eurasian Sparrowhawk, got the id confirmed on birdforum.net it was struggling to hunt for sparrows and the sparrows were confusing him by making noises from one bush then the other, at last it was frustrated and left. I could make out from the show that this was a juvenile.
28 Comments (1–25)
Thanks you matimar1!
Thanks a lot Yogesh.
Best captured....
Cropped and uploaded a second pic.
Thank you Pyoung.
This is a beautiful bird.
Thanks a lot Antonio and Saarbrigger.
Nice close up.
Uaw! Fantastic spotting
Thank you very much.
Beautiful Picture Satyen and a very good find.!!
Thanks for sharing !
Thank you Karen.
Beautiful!
Thank you Alice.
Great shot!
Agree, they learn in a way which is fun for them.
I know but they do learn a lot about nature and respect.
Thanks Tony. Kids can make it fun and sometimes they make a lot of noise which scares the birds.
Great photo, so close, very nice. And kids can make the experience so much more fun.
Thanks, Alice, Froglover and Emma. Froglover, it was both a confused bird and a good camera and the bird was very near too. Actually we had fun watching him (me and my daughter), especially with my daughter's special sound effects ooh, ah, woah and wow. I should have recorded it, but was busy watching the bird. I have seen it again today with the same routine of the sparrows. Poor fellow was so hungry, even went for a crow. I guess I will feed him some raw chicken some day.
What a beautiful bird!The sparrows were amusing trying to confuse him.
Sweet shot!! That must be a good camera or a stupid bird.
Smart sparrows! Like your picture and story!
Thanks Yogesh, Samantha, Sachin and Leuba. Leuba, he was only 10-11 mtrs far from me.
Satyen, your photo is so good, it looks like he's sitting in your living room !! - well done - I love the bird.