Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus) [XC859615]
by Peter Boesman from Waterfall Creek State Reserve, Bruny, Tasmania, Australia (call)
Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus) [XC299599]
by nick talbot from Royal National Park, New South Wales, Australia (call)
Nest
A platform composed of thin twigs, either dead or green, lined with leaves, placed on a thin forked limb of a tall tree. Occasionally the deserted nest of a Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) or a raven is used.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4, usually 3; smooth, usually lustreless cream to blue-white tinged, at times sparsely speckled or smeared with light red-brown; oval to rounded-oval; about 39 x 31 mm. Incubation: about 21 days; apparently by female only.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 28 days.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with New Britain Sparrowhawk (Accipiter brachyurus), Rufous-necked Sparrowhawk (Accipiter erythrauchen) and perhaps Vinous-breasted Sparrowhawk (Accipiter rhodogaster). Birds of northern Australia sometimes recognized as subspecies quaesitandus, but doubtfully valid. Emendation of original spelling to cirrhocephalus is not justified.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
cirrocephalus (Vieillot, 1817) - Tasmania and south-eastern Australia.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9