272:, the eyes are dark red and the legs are orange. There is a melanistic form which is all black except for the white barred flight feathers on the underwing. The juvenile is browner and may be white over the underparts and head or have a brown head and rufous underparts. Females are about 14% bigger than males, weighing in at 180–305 g (6.3–10.8 oz) to the males 105–190 g (3.7–6.7 oz). The total length is about 30 cm (12 in) and the wingspan is 67 cm (26 in).
31:
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385:. The eggs are laid in August to November, peaking in August and September and the clutch is between one and five eggs. The female incubates the eggs, while the male brings her food, usually 2-3 times a day. The male continues to be the sole provider of food for both the female and the chicks for 18 days after hatching, after which the female starts to hunt too. The young fledge after 33–39 days and become fully independent about a month after that.
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The Ovambo sparrowhawk generally favours the edges of drier forest, woodland and exotic plantations, moving into surrounding savanna and tall woodland with patches of open ground, such as riverine and broad-leaved woodland. In southern Africa its habitat is usually dominated by
380:
The Ovambo sparrowhawk is territorial and the female does most of the nest-building, creating a platform of sticks lined with bark chips and occasionally green leaves. It is typically placed in the canopy of a tree, either a native tree or an alien tree such as
268:. The adults have plain grey upperparts with white bars on the rump and white underparts which are finely barred with grey but with a plain white vent. The tail has three dark bars and a broad, dark subterminal band. The bill is black, contrasting with the red
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rather than a typical sparrowhawk, hunting by soaring at a relatively high height and stooping on any prey spotted, the chasing it for 100–200 m (330–660 ft). However, it often perches quietly within the canopy, when not hunting.
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The Ovambo sparrowhawk is almost exclusively a hunter of birds mostly up to 60 g (2.1 oz) in weight but females will attack larger birds such as
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It occurs in sub-Saharan Africa and breeds mostly south of the equator. It is a localised and uncommon breeder in east Africa north as far as
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in the west. Birds seen in the northern parts of the range, especially in west Africa, are probably nomadic non-breeding visitors.
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with the typical broad winged, long-tailed shape of a member of the genus
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up to 250 g (8.8 oz), it has even been recorded catching a
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The Ovambo sparrowhawk is apparently closely related to the
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analysis supports these two species forming a well defined
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Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2014).
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601:
Species text in The Atlas of
Southern African Birds
450:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22695619A93519626.en
372:. Its hunting technique is more like that of a
503:SASOL Birds of Prey of Africa and its Islands
8:
606:
48:
29:
20:
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316:. In western Africa it is found from the
540:Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive
304:to northern Namibia, Botswana, northern
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559:
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234:) is a species of sub-Saharan African
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951:Taxa named by John Henry Gurney Sr.
941:Birds of prey of Sub-Saharan Africa
931:IUCN Red List least concern species
436:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
258:The Ovambo sparrowhawk is a small
14:
505:. New Holland. pp. 102–103.
73:
577:. Iziko Museums of South Africa
425:BirdLife International (2016).
501:Kemp, Alan; Kemp, Meg (1998).
473:The Eponym Dictionary of Birds
1:
242:. It takes its name from the
302:Democratic Republic of Congo
967:
284:Distribution and movements
475:. Bloomsbury Publishing.
398:Accipiter madagascarensis
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70:Scientific classification
68:
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37:
28:
23:
443:: e.T22695619A93519626.
318:Central African Republic
946:Birds described in 1875
395:Madagascar sparrowhawk
280:
599:Ovambo Sparrowhawk -
575:Biodiversity Explorer
571:(Ovambo sparrowhawk)"
532:"Ovambo Sparrowhawk (
278:
226:Hilgert's sparrowhawk
908:Accipiter-ovampensis
739:accipiter-ovampensis
677:accipiter-ovampensis
664:Accipiter_ovampensis
650:Accipiter ovampensis
620:Accipiter ovampensis
569:Accipiter ovampensis
534:Accipiter ovampensis
429:Accipiter ovampensis
231:Accipiter ovampensis
179:Accipiter ovampensis
350:) or Zambezi teak (
320:in the east to the
40:Conservation status
24:Ovambo sparrowhawk
353:Baikiaea plurijuga
281:
222:Ovampo sparrowhawk
204:Accipiter hilgerti
161:A. ovampensis
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877:Open Tree of Life
612:Taxon identifiers
482:978-1-4729-0574-1
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347:Uapaca kirkiana
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127:Accipitriformes
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579:. Retrieved
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544:. Retrieved
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454:. Retrieved
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402:phylogenetic
397:
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340:Brachystegia
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306:South Africa
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246:in northern
240:Accipitridae
236:bird of prey
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137:Accipitridae
18:
799:iNaturalist
644:Wikispecies
456:11 November
322:Ivory Coast
260:sparrowhawk
254:Description
925:Categories
903:Xeno-canto
581:31 October
546:31 October
412:References
383:eucalyptus
370:budgerigar
314:Mozambique
244:Ovamboland
936:Accipiter
296:south to
279:In flight
265:Accipiter
155:Species:
148:Accipiter
93:Kingdom:
87:Eukaryota
890:Species+
843:22695619
817:10584603
703:22695619
698:BirdLife
629:Wikidata
389:Taxonomy
310:Eswatini
298:Tanzania
290:Ethiopia
195:Synonyms
133:Family:
107:Chordata
103:Phylum:
97:Animalia
83:Domain:
60:IUCN 3.1
791:2480587
765:1048395
752:ovaspa2
713:ovaspa2
685:Avibase
635:Q127969
328:Habitat
294:Eritrea
248:Namibia
143:Genus:
123:Order:
113:Class:
58: (
882:818178
856:387803
830:175335
773:EURING
672:ARKive
509:
479:
374:falcon
360:Habits
335:miombo
218:Ovambo
188:, 1875
869:73231
812:IRMNG
778:30040
747:eBird
710:BOW:
406:clade
366:doves
895:6611
851:NCBI
838:IUCN
825:ITIS
804:5133
786:GBIF
726:93VR
583:2016
548:2016
507:ISBN
477:ISBN
458:2021
441:2016
400:and
312:and
292:and
270:cere
216:The
117:Aves
760:EoL
734:CMS
721:CoL
659:ADW
445:doi
356:).
342:spp
228:, (
220:or
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556:^
538:.
536:)"
521:^
491:^
439:.
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408:.
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567:"
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485:.
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447::
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337:(
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
