Eastern, Pale, Chanting goshawk, Somali chanting goshawk
The eastern (pale) chanting goshawk (Melierax poliopterus ), or Somali chanting goshawk, is a bird of prey of East Africa.
Te
TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Altricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
Soaring birds can maintain flight without wing flapping, using rising air currents. Many gliding birds are able to "lock" their extended wings by m...
Gliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust and is employed by gliding animals. Birds in particular use gliding flight to m...
No
Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
E
starts withThis species averages 49 to 55 cm (19 to 22 in) long, with a wingspan of 96 to 110 cm (38 to 43 in) and a tail length of 20 to 25 cm (7.9 to 9.8 in). Males average 85 percent the size of females. Like the other chanting goshawks, it resembles an accipiter but the tail is shorter and graduated (the feathers increase in length from the edges to the center), and the wings are broader.
Adults have grey head, neck, breast, and upperparts, except for the white or lightly barred uppertail coverts. The belly has narrow grey and white bars and the undertail coverts are white. The belly and wing linings are white, the secondaries are light grey, and the primaries are dark, giving an impression from below of a white bird with grey head and dark wingtips. The tail is blackish above and white below with grey bars. The cere is yellow, and the legs are orange-red. Juveniles are dull brown above with a pale stripe over the eye. They have white underparts with brown streaks on the throat and breast, brown bars on the belly coverts, and faint or no barring on the undertail coverts. The tail is brown with widely spaced darker brown bars. The rump is white, partially barred or unmarked. They are indistinguishable from some juvenile dark chanting goshawks except for the less barred undertail coverts and rump. Also, the legs are slightly longer at all ages than the dark chanting goshawk's.
The eastern chanting goshawk is usually seen in large groups of up to 16, they will always hunt in a pack and ration their finds amongst each other. It often perches on the tops of mountains and other rocky environments. Its wingbeats are shallow and "straight-arm". It holds its wings flat, or sometimes in a C, when it glides.
Its calls are "a melodious piping rhee-opee-opee-opee, and a short low-pitched kleee-yeu ", slightly higher-pitched than those of the dark chanting goshawk, or "pereu-pereu-pereu-repee-repee-repee-repee... " in the nesting season, the source of its name.
