Shikra Tachyspiza badia poliopsis, female, Ruili, Yunnan, China, February. Shikra is a pale sparrowhawk. Female washed brownish above and has yellow or orange eye and ‘more dark tail bands’ than male (Robson 2005, 130). Chinese SparrowhawkT. soloensis and Japanese SparrowhawkT. gularis are darker above. Shikra ranges discontinuously from sub-Saharan Africa to India, Southeast Asia, and Greater Sundas. In China poliopsis is uncommon resident in extreme south, from Yunnan to Hainan, and cenchroides breeds northern Xinjiang. (Craig Brelsford)
SOUND-RECORDING
ShikraTachyspiza badia cenchroides, screaming calls in dense poplar forest, Hongyanglin (46.123909, 85.652300), Xinjiang, elev. 300 m (990 ft.), July, by Craig Brelsford (0:09; 2 MB)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ferguson-Less, James, and David A. Christie. Raptors of the World. Princeton University Press, 2005.
Kemp, A. C. (1994). Entry Shikra in family Accipitridae. P. 146, in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, 1994.
MacKinnon, John. Guide to the Birds of China. Oxford University Press, 2022.
Robson, Craig. Birds of Southeast Asia. Princeton University Press, 2005.
