Table Of Content

. Photospot: The endemic Ethiopian race Goshawk of the African MichelLouette U nder the Biological Species Concept, eight species Accipiterbreedinsub-SaharanAfrica. and loss ofsexual plumage dimorphism, and are The point of view that all African Goshawk A. also rather small (this is especially true for the tachiropopulationsbelongtoonebiologicalspecies island birds, the Ethiopian race takes a more maybe compared to thatfor ShikraA. badius the intermediate position). A habitat-related trade-off , only other strongly polytypic African Accipiter. in morphological characteristics comes to mind as Thelatter’s twoAfricanpopulations differslightly an explanation (possibly also, in part, character from each other in migratory and transitional displacement) Thismaybetheresultofadaptation . moult strategies, but markedly from some ofthe to a relatively closed environment in which the Asianraces3 PopulationsofthewidespreadAfrican needs for sexual attraction overrule the benefit of . Goshawkare even more geographicallydistinct in crypsis in the female7 . size and plumage characteristics (intensity of The monotypic Chestnut-flanked colorationandpattern) thanthoseofShikra6.This Sparrowhawk,ontheotherhand,isonlypresentin variation is, in part, individual but mostly related theLowerGuineaforestregion.Ithasbeenclaimed to age and sexual dimorphism. Birds ofAfrica' to occur in Upper Guinea and in Ethiopia, but grouped all populations into one species, whereas without proof. The photograph included here, HandbookoftheBirdsoftheWorld*1recognisedtwo, which was taken on 29 April 2003, at Wondo althoughKemp, inasubsequentwork,alsotreated Genet, Ethiopia, by Paul Ellis, clearly shows the & them as a single species5. Dowsett Dowsett- followingcharacteristics, all typical ofthe adultof Lemaire2statedthatthesouthernandeasterntachiro the endemic race of African Goshawk A. t. group‘canbeeverybitasmuchaforestbird’asthe unduliventer in comparison with adult Chestnut- equatorial toussenelii group. These authors also flanked Sparrowhawk: remarked that both do have a similar, peculiar • Smallishhead(noticeablybroaderincastanilius) display flight (contra Birds ofAfrica} and Kemp4). • No bare yellow skin in front ofthe eye Louette8,9 observed that morphological • Throat grey, notwhite characteristicsofthisbirdvaryaccordingtohabitat • Barringon breastrufous-brown, notdarkgrey (and apparently also according to the presence of the similar Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk A. (notethatthebarringincastaniliusiserroneously described as ‘chestnut’ in Birds ofAfrica') castaniliusl) In evergreen forest habitat, African Goshawksarerathersmall,withcolourfuladultsin • Flanks rufous, not dark red both sexes, the females being quite ‘masculine’ in • Back grey, not blackish this respect. Louette8 concluded, from a detailed • Feet plain orange, not overlaid with blackish study of specimens, that size and plumage green (colour in museum skins). morphologyfollowawest-eastclineinWestAfrica Thetailpatternfitsbothspecies.TheEthiopian (the presence of the smallest birds in the West race ofAfrican Goshawk, A. t. unduliventer (of being the reason for unsubstantiated claims that whichA.t.croizati,describedfromafewspecimens, Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk occurs there). In alsofromEthiopia,isprobablyasynonym,though the larger eastern and southernAfrican woodland Birds ofAfrica' and Handbook ofthe Birds ofthe races, the female is more cryptically coloured. Worlds mention it as a different race) is rarely African Goshawk is the only Accipiter with mentionedintheliteratureandnophotographsof endemic circum-African island (Pemba, Bioko) the bird in lifewere previouslyknown to me. The and Ethiopian montane races. These three bird depicted here is probably a male, the female subspecies, like the evergreen forest-belt birds, being slightly less colourful and more bulky. T 118-BullABC Vol 10No2 Photospot References 6. Louette, M. 1992. The identification of forest 1. Brown, L.H., Urban, E.K. and Newman, K. (eds) Accipiters in central Africa. Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. 1982. The Birds ofAfrica, Vol 1. London, UK: 112: 50-53. Academic Press. 7. Louette, M. 2000. Evolutionary exposition from 2. Dowsett, R.J. and Dowsett-Lemaire, F. 1993. A plumage pattern in African Accipiter. Ostrich 71: Contribution to the Distribution and Taxonomy of 45-50. AfrotropicalandMalagasyBirds. Tauraco Research 8. Louette, M. 2001. Redescription of African ReportNo. 3. Liege: Tauraco Press. GoshawksAccipitertachiroonBiokoIslandandthe 3. Herremans, M. and Louette, M. 2000. A partial adjacentmainland. Ostrich72: 24-27. post-juvenilemoltandtransitional plumage in the 9. Louette, M. 2003. Size, plumage, moult and ShTkz&AccipiterbadiusandGreyFrogHawkAccipiter supposed hybrids ofAfrican Goshawks Accipiter ( DR soloensis.J. RaptorRes. 34: 249-261. tachiroItousseneliigroup) in Congo. Ostrich74: 4. Kemp,A. 1994.AfricanAccipiters. IndelHoyo,J., 18-29. Elliott,A. andSargatal,J. HandbookoftheBirdsof the World. Vol 2. Barcelona: LynxEdicions. RoyalMuseumfor CentralAfrica B- 3080 Tervuren , 3. Kemp,A.andKemp,M. 1998.SASOLBirdsofPrey Belgium. ofAfricaanditsIslands.London,UK:NewHolland. African GoshawkAccipitertachiro unduliventer,Wondo Genet, Ethiopia, 29April2003 (Paul Ellis) Photospot BullABC Vol 10No2-119