Pale Chanting Goshawk

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Pale Chanting Goshawk

Conservation status

Least Concern

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Falconiformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Melierax
Species:	M. canorus

Binomial name

Melierax canorus
(Thunberg, 1799)

The Pale Chanting Goshawk (Melierax canorus) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. The Accipitridae also include many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers.

This hawk breeds in eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa. The north eastern subspecies is sometimes separated as the Eastern Chanting Goshawk Melierax poliopterus, in which case the southern form becomes Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk. It is a resident species of dry, open, semi-desert with 75 cm or less annual rainfall. It is commonly seen perched on roadside telephone poles.

The 43-56 cm long adult has a grey upperparts with a white rump. The central tail feathers are black tipped with white, and the outer feathers are barred grey and white. The head and upper breast are pale grey; with the rest of the underparts are finely barred in dark grey and white. Its eyes are red, the bill is mostly red, and it has long red legs. It is paler than the grey-rumped Dark Chanting Goshawk Melierax metabates.

In flight, the adult has black primary flight feathers, very pale grey (white from a distance) secondaries, and a grey forewing. The wingspan is about 105 cm.

Immatures have brown upperparts, with a white rump and black bars on the tail. From below, the flight feathers and tail white with black barring, the throat is dark-streaked white, and the rest of the underparts are rufous.

The Pale Chanting Goshawk eats a variety of vertebrate prey, mainly lizards, but also small mammals and birds, and large insects. It often walks on the ground. This is generally a rather quiet bird, but during the breeding season the male makes a series of tuneful whistling calls kleeuu, kleeuu-ku-ku-ku from a tree-top perch.

The relatively small stick nest is built in Acacias, at a height of 3 to 10 m. One or two pale bluish or greenish white unmarked, eggs are laid and incubated only by the female Only one chick is normally reared from a nest of two. The young after leaving the nest may be found near it for some months and in the following year may even be found displaying in the same area.