Birds of prey that are good at catching birds
Accipiter nisus is the eagle that catches small birds, and the English name Eurasian Sparrow Hawk also means sparrowhawk, because their food is mainly small finches, hence the name. The middle toe of the sparrowhawk's foot is developed and slender, so that the length of the toe is convenient for catching birds to increase the grip area, so as to hold the prey steadily.
Sparrowhawk resting on the trunk
Sparrowhawks are 30–40 cm long, have a wingspan of 60–80 cm, and have 6 distinct wing fingers. The outer edge of the sparrowhawk's wings is distinctly rounded and adept at flying in the forest, facilitating acceleration and sharp turns, and such an ingenious wing structure is suitable for catching small finches that inhabit the forest.
Males are significantly smaller than females. Many birds of prey have a similar situation, that is, the male and female body size difference is relatively large, some species of females are even twice the size of the male, and sparrowhawks are the ones with large differences in male and female size. Female sparrowhawks are the size of male goshawks, while males are smaller and even about the same size as a spotted dove.
In the past, it was thought that females were larger because females were responsible for all the hatching and initial brooding, so larger sizes were more conducive to hatching and nest protection. But the latest research shows that males are smaller than females, mainly because males can catch more small prey, and the early growth period after the chicks emerge from the shell is requiring a large number of small birds to feed food, smaller prey is suitable for the faster growth and development of chicks, over time, some birds of prey evolved male and female size differences significantly.
Temperate forest species
Sparrowhawks are small birds of prey distributed in the Palearctics, and their main distribution is in the temperate regions of Eurasia. Within the scope of China, they breed in coniferous broad-leaved and broad-leaved forests in the northeast of northern China in the summer, and adult sparrowhawks that winter in south China and central China at the end of March each spring will gradually fly north to the wintering grounds of the northern temperate zone to breed.
Sparrowhawks produce 2-4 eggs per breeding, and after about 30 days of incubation, the chicks will emerge from their shells, and most sparrowhawks will be sexually mature at the age of two after birth and can participate in breeding. Sparrowhawks will gradually go south from the northeast region to the central and southern parts of China to overwinter every autumn, and the Beijing area is the peak transit period of sparrowhawks from September to October, and there are at least two or three hundred transiting birds per day at an observation point, which is called the wonder of bird migration.
The sparrowhawk that flies in the air has a short rounded wing edge suitable for flying in woodland environments
In the Beijing area, especially in the urban area, some large parks such as the Olympic Forest Park, the Summer Palace and other gardens will have sparrowhawks overwintering in winter, and they often use large trees as a cover to intercept birds in the forest. Sparrowhawks also wait for rabbits at the water sources that are not frozen in winter, catching birds that come to drink water. Our human cities provide them with the convenience of wintering in winter.
Folk name
The name of the sparrowhawk is the official name of the Chinese, the scientific name is a Latin name, in the past folk called the female sparrowhawk "harrier", this name is only a common name, not a scientific official name, and today's taxonomic harrier genus Raptor Although it belongs to the same genus of eagles, but there is no direct connection with various harriers. (Source of information "Capital Landscaping" WeChat public account Editor Wang Qiang)