New Caledonian Goshawk Accipiter haplochrous Scientific name definitions

32–40 cm (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); male 152–218 g, larger female 227–281 g; wingspan 58–74 cm (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Medium-sized <em>Accipiter</em> . Boldly pied adult unmistakable within range; dark cere separates from similar congeners. Juvenile is mottled brown and cream, similar to juvenile of larger A. fasciatus. Only congener in range is A. fasciatus, adult of which differs in its much paler grey head, bright rufous collar, brown upperparts and rufous-barred underparts. Juveniles more similar, but present species smaller, shorter-tailed and probably paler-headed (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

New Caledonia.

Tropical rainforest and forest edge in lowlands and hills, from sea-level up to 1300 m, although mainly below 1000 m (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Found in secondary growth, as well as humid evergreen forest, and occasionally forages in savanna woodland, and even tall maquis, mangroves and cultivated areas (2 Thiollay, J.M. (1993). Habitat segregation and the insular syndrome: two congeneric raptors in New Caledonia: the White-bellied Goshawk Accipiter haplochrous and the Brown Goshawk A. fasciatus. Ibis. 135(3): 237-246. Close ). Generally prefers more densely wooded areas than those frequented by local race of A. fasciatus; distributions found to overlap only in semi-forested lowland areas, where present species tended to encroach more on habitat of A. fasciatus than the reverse (2 Thiollay, J.M. (1993). Habitat segregation and the insular syndrome: two congeneric raptors in New Caledonia: the White-bellied Goshawk Accipiter haplochrous and the Brown Goshawk A. fasciatus. Ibis. 135(3): 237-246. Close ).

Unknown; no records outside normal range, although juveniles presumably dispersive to some extent (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Poorly known. Mostly lizards, geckos, insects (grasshoppers, beetles) and small mammals (e.g. Rattus exulans). Said to take birds up to size of parrot, pigeon and domestic chicken, but avian prey apparently less important than traditionally held. Perch hunter (sit-and-wait method), normally taking prey on ground, but sometimes in trees; regularly hunts from lower perches than A. fasciatus, and apparently takes wider range of prey. A fierce predator of birds, sometimes pursuing them into buildings.

Fast, high-pitched “tseee-tseee-tseee” described (3 Doughty, C., N. Day, and A. Plant (1999). Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Display observed in Sept, and season probably lasts until Dec (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); nest-building and incubation at two sites in Oct; 3 eggs collected in Oct, but uncertain whether they represented a single clutch of three. No further information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. CITES II. Restricted to a single small island, where thought to be undergoing moderate decline. Fairly common throughout New Caledonia from Manjelia, in far N, to Goro, in extreme S, an area of occurrence totalling c. 12,000 km². Occurs at very high densities, e.g. in 1987 up to 5·69 birds/km² in optimal habitat and estimated total population at least 2500 pairs, and thought likely to be more than 5000 pairs (2 Thiollay, J.M. (1993). Habitat segregation and the insular syndrome: two congeneric raptors in New Caledonia: the White-bellied Goshawk Accipiter haplochrous and the Brown Goshawk A. fasciatus. Ibis. 135(3): 237-246. Close ). If a pair requires 3–5 km², the island could hold population of c. 2400–4000 pairs. On this basis, BirdLife tentatively places global population in band 2500–9999 individuals, including 1667–6666 (rounded to 1500–7000) mature individuals. Although no meaningful information on population trends available, suspected that habitat degradation is causing slow to moderate decline. This raptor is protected by law, but, since it does sometimes take domestic poultry, a small number are killed in areas of human habitation. A more serious threat is loss and degradation of forest habitat (4 Ekstrom, J. M. M., Jones, J. P. G., Willis, J. and Isherwood, I. (2000). The humid forests of New Caledonia: biological research and conservation recommendations for the vertebrate fauna of Grande Terre. CSB Conservation Publications, Cambridge, UK. Close ), which currently leading to relatively slow decrease in its population but could, perhaps, cause more significant decline in the future. Proposed conservation initiatives include efforts to ensure protection of all tracts of primary forest, and to monitor populations both in primary and in degraded forest in order to elucidate trends; comparison of nesting success in primary forest with that in degraded forest is desirable. In addition, the establishment of public-awareness campaigns designed to discourage the killing of native raptors is a laudable aim.