Black Sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus)
About the Black Sparrowhawk
The black sparrowhawk (Astur melanoleucus), sometimes known as the black goshawk or great sparrowhawk, is a bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae. It was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter. It occurs mainly in forest and non-desert areas south of the Sahara, particularly where there are large trees suitable for nesting; favored habitat includes suburban and human-altered landscapes. It preys predominantly on birds of moderate size, such as pigeons and doves, in suburban areas. Two subspecies are recognised: A. m. temminckii Hartlaub, 1855 – Liberia to north Angola A. m. melanoleucus (Smith, A), 1830 – Sudan and Ethiopia through east Africa to South Africa.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 42 recordings for this species: 1 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- African GoshawkAccipiter tachirorecording
- Bicolored HawkAccipiter bicolorrecording
- Brown GoshawkAccipiter fasciatusrecording
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperiirecording
- Eurasian SparrowhawkAccipiter nisusrecording
- Northern GoshawkAccipiter gentilisrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.