Scientific name: Accipiter gentilis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Birds-of-prey
Field characters. Length 48-62 cm; wingspan 98-117 cm. Male resembles a very large female Eurasian Sparrowhawk but with heavier breast, relatively longer wings, slightly shorter tail and more powerful flight. Female much larger than male. Upperparts of male blue-grey; a conspicuous whitish supercilium separates dark crown and ear coverts; underparts whitish, barred with dark grey and with conspicuous white vent and undertail-coverts. Female is more brown-grey above and has less contrast in face than male. Juvenile and immature with brown upperparts and pale buff underparts streaked with brown spots, not barred. Hunts with great speed for birds, thereby manoeuvring with great skill amongst trees and being able to perform abrupt turns.
Voice. A shrill, chattering 'gek-gek-gek-gek'; female has a Common Buzzard-like scream 'hee-aa'.
Distribution. Fairly common resident.
Habitat. Confined to forested and wooded regions, favouring areas interspersed with fields.
Food. Hunts generally for prey by swift and aggressive pursuit flight, catching prey in flight, on nest, branches, or on the ground. Once caught, prey is brought to cover and eaten on ground or on branch. Because of size difference between sexes, prey taken by females is considerably larger than prey captured by males. Highly diverse diet: grouse, partridges, pheasant, pigeons, crows, thrushes, mammals (rabbit, red squirrel).
Eggs. Often uniform, sometimes clouded with grey/yellowish grey markings, which may be stains from nest material. Ground colour bluish white/dirty white. Texture moderately rough, not glossy. Shape subelliptical (usually)/short subelliptical. Size 59 x 45 mm (51-65 x 41-49), weight 52 g (36-62).