Levant Sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes)
One of the features of the mysterious Levant Sparrowhawk is how dissimilar it is to the Sparrowhawk in many aspects of its ecology and behaviour, despite greatly resembling the commoner bird in appearance. For one thing it is exclusively a summer visitor to Europe, not mainly a resident, arriving each year in April and May and leaving again in September. It has a curious and notable tendency to migrate in high wheeling flocks of up to 20 birds, rather than following the Sparrowhawk’s strategy, which, when it does migrate, is to travel singly and low down. And it also has a very different method of hunting. Rather than using the usual hawk’s method of waiting on a perch and setting out on an explosive ambush, the Levant Sparrowhawk simply flies along at moderate height above ground (6-10m) and breaks off from time to time to stoop down and seize prey.
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Its diet, too, is very different both from the Sparrowhawk and the Goshawk. This bird seems to subsist mostly on reptiles, especially lizards, plus large insects such as grasshoppers, locusts, beetles and cicadas. It does take some small birds, though, and a few mammals. But, being basically a feeder on more sluggish prey, the male and female are about the same size, in complete contrast to the Sparrowhawk (see that species).
The Levant Sparrowhawk mainly occurs in river valleys and other wooded areas, having a particularly strong attachment to broad-leaved trees. It is a scarce and secretive species, and much about its behaviour remains poorly known.
From ‘Birds: A Complete Guide to All British and European Species’, by Dominic Couzens. Published by Collins and reproduced with permission.