Birds of Prey of Australia: A Field Guide [3 ed.] 1486311113, 9781486311118

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A FIELD GUIDE

BIRDS OF PREY OF AUSTRALIA

THIRD EDITION

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A FIELD GUIDE

BIRDS OF PREY OF AUSTRALIA

STEPHEN DEBUS ILLUSTRATED BY JEFF DAVIES THIRD EDITION

AUSTRALIA

© Stephen Debus, BirdLife Australia (text) 2019; Jeff Davies, BirdLife Australia (artwork) 2019 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO Publishing for all permission requests. A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia. ISBN: 9781486311118 (pbk.) ISBN: 9781486311125 (epdf) ISBN: 9781486311132 (epub) Published by: CSIRO Publishing Locked Bag 10 Clayton South VIC 3169 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9545 8400 Email: [email protected] Website: www.publish.csiro.au Front cover: Adult female Little Eagle (light morph) Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au Back cover: Author photo: Sofia Debus Set in 9.5/12.5 Adobe Minion Pro and Myriad Pro Edited by Peter Storer Cover design by Andrew Weatherill Typeset by Desktop Concepts Pty Ltd, Melbourne Printed in China by Toppan Leefung Printing Limited CSIRO Publishing publishes and distributes scientific, technical and health science books, magazines and journals from Australia to a worldwide audience and conducts these activities autonomously from the research activities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of, and should not be attributed to, the publisher or CSIRO. The copyright owner shall not be liable for technical or other errors or omissions contained herein. The reader/user accepts all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using this information. The paper this book is printed on is in accordance with the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council ®. The FSC® promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.

Mar19_01

Contents BirdLife Australia Preface to the first edition Preface to the second edition Preface to the third edition About the author About the illustrator Introduction: Birds of prey

PART I

FIELD GUIDE

Species descriptions

vii ix xi xiii xv xvii 1

11 13

Vagrants 69 Difficult species-pairs

PART II

71

HANDBOOK 109

Osprey, genus Pandion

111

Small kites, genus Elanus

113

Pernine kites

117

Large kites and sea-eagles

124

Goshawks and sparrowhawks, genus Accipiter

132

Australasian endemic hawks, genus Erythrotriorchis

138

Harriers, genus Circus

141

Booted eagles, genera Aquila and Hieraaetus

145

Falcons, genus Falco

152

Threats, conservation and the future

165

Glossary 177 Bibliography 179 Index 203 v

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BirdLife Australia

BirdLife Australia is the national non-profit organisation for the conservation of birds, finding solutions to the threats they face and inspiring action to ensure birds and their habitats flourish. BirdLife Australia produces a range of publications including: Australian Birdlife, a quarterly magazine; Emu – Austral Ornithology, a quarterly scientific journal; and Australian Field Ornithology, an online journal of bird study. It also maintains a comprehensive library, and operates a network of Branches in all states as well as Special Interest Groups, Reserves and Observatories. Membership is open to anyone interested in birds and their habitats, and concerned about the future of our avifauna. For further information, contact: BirdLife Australia, Suite 2–05, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC 3053, or visit www. birdlife.org.au.

BirdLife Australia Raptor Group The BirdLife Australia Raptor Group (formerly the Australasian Raptor Association) is a subgroup of BirdLife Australia, acting as a focus for those with an interest in diurnal and nocturnal raptors of the Australian region. The group’s broad aims are to promote raptor research, conservation and management and to foster communication and cooperation in the region. It publishes a newsletter, Boobook. BARG

holds occasional conferences, a reflection of the high professional and amateur interest in raptors. Proceedings of past conferences (held in 1989 and 1996) were published as Australian Raptor Studies in 1993 and Australian Raptor Studies II in 1997. Abstracts from the 2003, 2008, 2010 and 2013 conferences were published in Boobook, and summaries of some of the 2008 papers were also published in Wingspan (as the BirdLife Australia magazine was then called). Some recent conference papers have appeared in the scientific literature. Contact BirdLife Australia or visit the BARG website: www.birdlife.org.au and navigate via Special Interest Groups.

Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB), produced by Birds Australia (now BirdLife Australia) and to which Stephen Debus contributed, provides a comprehensive synthesis of knowledge of all the birds that occur in this region as at the time of production (seven volumes, 1990 to 2006). It continues to influence the direction of research and conservation of Australasian and Antarctic birds, as reflected, for instance, by recent publications on birds of prey.

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Preface to the first edition

Birds of prey, by virtue of their powers of flight and vision, their imposing manner and their impressive predatory capabilities, have captured the imagination of humans. Although in recent times birds of prey have not always been thought of favourably, they have long been valued as agents of the hunt in the ancient art of falconry, or as totemic figures in tribal cultures. Today, the first close encounter with a bird of prey can leave a lasting impression. To a few, like myself, it means a lifelong fascination with these magnificent birds. For me, the catalyst was the awesome sight of Wedge-tailed Eagles in flight at close range, juxtaposed with their sorry corpses strung up on paddock fences, in the Riverina of New South Wales in the 1960s. Since then I have seen all the Australian species in the field, and become privileged to know several species intimately by observing their breeding cycle and studying their biology. Notwithstanding the animosity of certain sections of the community, mainly those concerned with pigeon-racing and livestock, birds of prey still generate much interest. They have a high profile in television documentaries and popular literature, and are increasingly in the public eye as individuals fall foul of the dangers of the modern industrial world. Wildlife rescue services are inundated with injured, orphaned or poisoned birds. For those coming into contact with birds of prey,

questions arise repeatedly: What kind is it? What does it eat? How does it live? The answers are crucial if wildlife managers and rehabilitators are to do their job properly. [In the 1960s], for a boy in a small country town, little relevant information was available. In the way of books there was Cayley’s What Bird is That? and Leach’s Australian Bird Book (both poor as field guides), a British book that said a little about European birds of prey, and a fictional book on the Peregrine Falcon in North America. The appearance of Slater’s Field Guide to Australian Birds in 1970 was a milestone. Today there are many good field guides, photographic books, a major reference handbook and a treatise on the biology and ecology of Australian birds of prey. Nevertheless, good ornithologists can have difficulty identifying some raptors, even in the hand, and many find them baffling. Yet they are easy to identify if one knows what to look for, even at great distances. My purpose in this book is to provide an inexpensive guide to the Australian raptors that will enable laypeople and bird enthusiasts alike to identify raptors, whether in the field or in the hand, and to learn a little about the birds’ biology. It is intended to supplement rather than compete with the other books by, I hope, taking a fresh approach to the problem of identification. This book draws heavily on volume 2 of the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand ix

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and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB), prepared by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) and published by Oxford University Press in 1993. Much of the information is condensed from that volume, and the colour plates of raptors in flight are reproduced here. I also gratefully acknowledge Lynx Edicions for permission to use some of the information on Australian raptors in the Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 2. Original research [on morphology] by David Eades, Danny Rogers and David James, section editors of HANZAB, is incorporated in the species descriptions.

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I gratefully acknowledge the early encouragement and support of my parents, Graham and Beatrice Debus, and the later encouragement of many colleagues, including Dr Peter Jarman (my graduate supervisor at the University of New England), Dr David Baker-Gabb (RAOU Director 1992–97), and latterly my boss at UNE, Dr Hugh Ford. I thank my referees, Tom Aumann and Dr Penny Olsen, who commented helpfully on a draft of the manuscript, and Peter Higgins (co-editor of HANZAB), who cast an RAOU eye over it. The responsibility for any errors is mine.

Preface to the second edition

The impetus for a second edition came mainly from ongoing enquiries about the book’s availability, after its last printing in 2001, and overseas online booksellers charging extortionate prices for the first edition since it went out of print. Evidently there was still a demand for the guide, despite its being 10 years out of date. This, coupled with the growth in knowledge of Australian raptors over the past decade and DNA studies that have revolutionised our understanding of raptor taxonomic relationships, indicated that a complete revision of the book was clearly due. The rise of digital photography has also enabled critical review of the field characters of Australian raptors, and the highlighting of some previously overlooked or understated ones. Therefore, this is a second edition in the true bibliographic sense, completely revised and updated in the light of new knowledge (including personal field study of further species since 1998). With increasing scientific knowledge of our raptors, it is apparent that some old lore is incorrect or suspect. The early ‘greats’, such as Gould, Diggles, North, Mathews and their natural-historian collectors and informants, got it right to the extent possible in those days. However, we have to doubt some of the statements from certain graziernaturalists and other amateur ornithologists in the early to mid 20th century, who were influenced by the prevailing negative

attitude to raptors, and the lack of information on field identification. Consequently, bird books and some articles antedating HANZAB might be unreliable on raptor lore (with the notable exception of original works by raptor specialists Frank Morris, Jack and Lindsay Cupper, David Hollands and Humphrey Price-Jones). Similarly, information from some amateur birders up to at least the 1980s, and even today in some databases such as bird atlases, might be doubtful in some respects. For instance, the more I revisit certain historical sightings and accounts of rare species such as the Square-tailed Kite, Red Goshawk or Grey and Black Falcons from the 1930s to 1980s (and even later), the more I doubt some of them. If there is a conflict between what the pre-HANZAB books or articles say and the recent scientific literature (see bibliography), favour the latter. Publication of this edition by CSIRO has freed up the imposed format of the first edition. At the helpful suggestion of John Manger, this edition is reorganised in field-guide format with identification text opposite single-species plates, as a double-page spread for each species. The ‘split images’ at the end of the field-guide section were originally the brainchild of Nick Mooney and Greg Czechura, who used them to compare anatomy between, and flight attitudes (soaring versus gliding) within, species; it seemed a logical

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extension to adapt the idea to compare and contrast similar species in flight. I thank John Manger (CSIRO) and Adrienne de Kretser (Righting Writing) for editing the text. I thank BirdLife Australia, as custodian of the HANZAB plates, and especially Sid Cowling and Graeme Hamilton, for permitting the plates to be digitised and supplied by the State Library of Victoria; also Madeleine Say and her team at the Library for supplying the scans. This facility enabled digital manipulation of images (expertly, by Pilar Aguilera and her team at CSIRO) to achieve the effect in the reorganised plates and the ‘difficult species-pairs’ section. Thanks also to Naomi Dowsett (CSIRO) for drawing the wing profiles. I thank Paul Setchell, critical user of the first edition, for helpful advice on making the book more user-friendly this time.

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The support and assistance of the people named in the first edition continue to be appreciated. I also thank Tony (A.B.) Rose, whose willing analyses of raptor prey remains enabled many collaborative ­studies of raptor diets, and the many other colleagues who participated in raptorwatching projects since 2000; they have contributed significantly to the growth in raptor knowledge. I thank Chris Barnes, Chris Field, Ákos Lumnitzer (www.amatteroflight.com), Deborah Pearse (www. byronbaybackyard.com.au), Trevor Ques­ ted, David Stowe (www.pbase.com/davidstowe) and David Whelan (www. redbubble.com/people/wildpix) for supplying photographs, and Glenn Ehmke (BirdLife Australia) for producing the maps. Finally, I thank my wife Sofia for her constant love and support.

Preface to the third edition

After more than 5 years, it seemed timely to update this guide with a fully revised third edition, rather than another reprint, partly to complement and serve as a companion to Richard Seaton’s brainchild Australian Birds of Prey in Flight: A Photographic Guide (CSIRO Publishing, 2019). In addition, most species (including the least-studied species in 2012) have had significant new research papers published on them, such that substantial chunks of this guide require revision. Although it is still true that the species most in need of conservation action are certain eagles, aridzone species and endemic bird-hunters, the Black-breasted Buzzard, Pacific Baza, Brahminy Kite, Grey Falcon and Black Falcon are now much better known than they were. A glance at the updated bibliography herein reveals that these species have each had between two and five dedicated studies conducted on them since 2012, and dietary and behavioural data on the Red Goshawk (formerly summarised in HANZAB and a generally unavailable RAOU report) are now in journal papers too. However, I need to correct a misconception in one review of Australasian Eagles and Eagle-like Birds (CSIRO Publishing, 2017). The situation is not as dramatically improved as suggested – the bibliography in the eagle book lists almost everything written on those birds since HANZAB, including minor notes, whereas the bibliography in this guide is intended

to highlight only major or significant studies and observations. So, the real measure of progress is to compare the bibliographies in the second and third editions of this guide. In this edition I have tried to incorporate helpful and constructive reviews of the second edition, as well as updating the text with new information, including new vagrant raptors that have reached the Australian continent, or may do soon because they have occurred on islands off the tropical Australian coast or in Torres Strait. One major aspect requiring substantial revision is that of raptor taxonomy, based on the latest DNA evidence. There have been recent DNA studies on: the Osprey; some goshawks and sparrowhawks; the endemic Australo-Papuan hawk genera; the harriers, and the implications for a large, artificial ‘Accipiter’ genus; the booted eagles; and the falcons. These findings are reflected in the treatment of the Osprey as a single global species, and the Red Goshawk has moved herein to a position between the accipiters and the harriers. This edition replaces some photographs in the second edition, and adds some additional ones on ages, sexes or morphs. I thank David Whelan and Mat Gilfedder in particular for providing new photos. David’s photographs are showcased at www. wildpix.com.au. I gratefully acknowledge the many colleagues who collaborated on (and sometimes drove) the projects that xiii

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expanded the bibliography for half the species in this edition: Tom Aumann, George Baker, David Baker-Gabb, Chris Barnes, Alice Bauer, Tony Baylis, David Charley, Keith Fisher, James Fitzsimons, Heather Janetzki, Candice Larkin, Hans Lutter, Bernie McRitchie, Geoff Mitchell, Ben Nottidge, Bill O’Donnell, Jerry Olsen, Don Owner, Russell Palmer, Jeremy Rourke, Marlis Schoeb, Jason Searle, Leah Tsang, Fred van Gessel, Robert Werner, David Whelan and Andrew Zuccon. I also commend the people who rose to the challenge on the other little-known species (Blackbreasted Buzzard, Pacific Baza, Brahminy Kite, Australian Hobby, Grey Falcon) and so expanded, or will soon expand, the bibliography on them: Allan Briggs, Mark Carter, Keith Fisher, Faye Hill, Immy Janse, Andrew Ley, Craig Morley, Pete Nunn, Chris Pavey, Will Riddell, Jonny Schoenjahn, Brian Tynan, Richard Waring, Chris Watson and Lois Wooding. I note with sadness the passing of A.B. (Tony) Rose and Trevor Quested since the

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second edition: both are acknowledged therein (and Tony was justly awarded BirdLife Australia’s Hobbs Medal for his outstanding contribution to ornithology). I dedicate this book to the memory of my late parents Graham and Beatrice Debus, who passed away in 2016 and 2017. I thank Mat Gilfedder for generously providing the distribution maps, originally prepared for Australian Birds of Prey in Flight and derived from records submitted to eBird. On request, the HANZAB line drawings in the first edition, by Mike Bamford, Nicolas Day, Kate GorringeSmith and Frank Knight, are reinstated; thanks go to John Peter of BirdLife Australia for retrieving the scans. I thank Lauren Webb, Tracey Kudis and the team at CSIRO Publishing for seeing the third edition through the publication process, and Peter Storer for copy editing. I thank my wife Sofia for her continuing love and support, as well as sharing some raptorwatching projects.

About the author

Dr Stephen Debus has researched raptors for many years. After studying Little Eagles, he was a volunteer observer for the RAOU Red Goshawk study in the Northern Territory. He observed Square-tailed Kites, Collared Sparrowhawks and Australian Hobbies through their breeding cycles specially for HANZAB. One of the founding members of the Australasian Raptor Association (now BirdLife Australia Raptor Group), Stephen edited its newsletter for 10 years (1980–89), and for another 15 years (since 2004) after it was renamed Boobook. He co-edited the ARA conference proceedings Australian Raptor Studies II, edited Australian Field Ornithology (formerly the Australian Bird Watcher) for 32 years (1984–2016), has written three books and contributed to several others. He collated the raptor special issues of Corella (journal of the Australian Bird

Study Association): Wedge-tailed Eagle (2007), White-bellied Sea-Eagle (2009) and rare raptors (Red Goshawk, Grey Falcon and Black Falcon, 2011). He is an honorary associate in the Division of Zoology, University of New England (UNE), and conducts faunal surveys and assessments for government and industry. He reviewed the conservation status of some raptors for the NSW Scientific Committee, after completing a PhD and a postdoctoral research fellowship in Zoology at UNE, on declining woodland birds. Since then, he has conducted projects on the breeding biology of various raptors (mainly eagles and falcons). The second edition of this book won a Whitley Award (Royal Zoological Society of NSW) for best vertebrate guide, and in 2015 Stephen was awarded a BirdLife Australia Serventy Medal for ornithological publication.

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About the illustrator

Jeff Davies is a lifelong birder who completed a Fine Arts Painting Major at Caulfield Institute of Technology. He has contributed artwork for Freshwater and Estuarine Fishes of Wilson’s Promontory (Fisheries and Wildlife Division 1983), Shorebirds of Australia (Nelson 1987), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (Oxford University Press 1990–2006), The Penguins (Oxford Uni-

versity Press 1995) and The Australian Bird Guide (CSIRO Publishing 2017). Jeff prefers to work with water-based mediums and commissioned works can be found in private collections in Australia and North America. In 2019, Jeff was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the visual arts as an ornithological artist and illustrator.

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Introduction: Birds of prey

This book offers only a brief overview of the Australian raptors. Other books that provide more detail are listed in the bibliography, along with major references and papers published since the first edition of this guide. This introduction makes a few generalisations about raptors; a little more detail is offered in the species accounts. The book is organised in two parts: a concise field guide, intended to enable rapid visual identification of raptors, with separate sections on difficult species-pairs and vagrant species; and a handbook that provides further detail on the biology of individual species. In the handbook, each genus or group of related genera is dealt with in a separate section, with a general introduction to each genus or group. An account of each species in that genus or group then follows, with sections on Characteristics (supplementing the field guide where necessary), Distribution, Food and Hunting, Behaviour, Breeding, and Threats and Conservation. Movements are mentioned briefly, for some species, where appropriate. The English names used here are those recommended by BirdLife Australia; only the most commonly used alternatives are given. I have refrained from listing ‘folk’ names, in the belief that the official names should become standard.

What is a raptor? Following recent DNA work, the definition of ‘raptor’ has required some rethink-

ing. In the strict sense, a raptor is a member of the orders Accipitriformes or Falconiformes – diurnal birds of prey. Included in the former are the hawks, eagles, Old World vultures, kites, harriers and Osprey. The falcons now form their own separate order. The New World vultures and condors were treated as a separate order Cathartiformes, but are now back in the Accipitriformes, in their own family Cathartidae. On the other hand, the falcons are now considered more closely related to the parrots and passerines than to the hawks! The definition of raptor is sometimes extended to include the unrelated owls, order Strigiformes, on account of their similar structure and way of life. The owls are not considered here, as they are covered in the companion guide (The Owls of Australia: A Field Guide, Envirobook, Sydney, 2009), except to note that some hawk-owls, genus Ninox (notably the boobooks and Barking Owl, especially juveniles) can be confused with some diurnal raptors such as goshawks. Raptors are readily characterised by their hooked bills, intense eyes and powerful feet, each having three toes forward and one back with sharp curved claws. They are predominantly coloured in browns, greys, whites and blacks, but often have brightly coloured unfeathered parts such as yellow feet and skin around the eyes, yellow or red eyes and yellow cere – the soft skin on top of the bill through which the nostrils open. Owls differ in 1

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having a flatter face (often with an obvious facial disc), more forward-directed eyes, a dull cere virtually hidden by the facial feathers, and the ability to perch with the feet arranged as two toes forward and two back. Most owls, including small Ninox, also have fully feathered legs down to the base of the toes. At close range when perched, raptors should be instantly recognisable as such by the aforementioned characters (bill, eyes, feet, colours). When airborne, even at a distance, they are readily separable from other birds by their silhouette (short head and bill, long pointed or broad ‘fingered’ wings, usually ample tail, quick or powerful flight often punctuated by long glides, soaring in circles, often on wings raised in a shallow V). The other bird types potentially confusable might include: distant soaring or flying waterbirds or seabirds, which usually have a long bill and neck, and often long legs too (trailing beyond a short tail); certain cuckoos that can have a raptor-like aspect in flight, or barred underparts like a goshawk or sparrowhawk; the few birds that glide with raised wings, such as the Australian Magpie and certain display-flying pigeons; large swifts, which can have a falcon-like aspect; certain parrots (rosellas Platycercus and relatives) and cuckoo-shrikes (Coracina species), which have an undulating flight style sometimes adopted by Collared Sparrowhawks; and perhaps a briefly glimpsed Ninox owl or frogmouth (Podargus species) flushing from its day-roost.

Kinds of raptors The 24 species of Australian raptor fall into two families within their respective orders: the hawks, eagles, Old World vul2

tures and allies in the Accipitridae; and the falcons in the Falconidae. The Secretarybird, found only in Africa, is now in subfamily Sagittariinae within the Accipitridae, rather than its own family. Most Australian species are indigenous, added to which are a few vagrants from the New Guinea region and rare migrants from Asia. No foreign raptor species have been introduced to Australia. The hawk family, Accipitridae, can be conveniently divided into several groups of related genera. Only those found in Australia are considered here. Taking into account recent DNA work, these groups now consist of: 1 the aquatic, piscivorous Osprey (Pandion, subfamily Pandioninae), which has special adaptations for catching fish by diving into water 2 the small, hovering white-tailed kites (Elanus) 3 the pernine kites (crested hawks or bazas Aviceda, honey-buzzards Pernis and relatives), which include some endemic Australasian hawks (Square-tailed Kite Lophoictinia, Black-breasted Buzzard Hamirostra, long-tailed buzzards Henicopernis) 4 the large kites and sea-eagles (Milvus, Haliastur and Haliaeetus) 5 the goshawks and sparrowhawks (Accipiter in the former broad sense, but probably consisting of several genera) 6 the endemic Red Goshawk Erythrotriorchis (with a congener, and the related Megatriorchis, in

Introduc tion: Birds of prey

New Guinea) whose affinities lie with the Accipiter–Circus complex 7 the harriers (Circus) 8 the true or ‘booted’ eagles with feathered legs (only Aquila and Hieraaetus in Australia). Several groups are not represented in Australia, notably the Old World vultures and snake-eagles, and the Afro-Asian Bat Hawk (Macheirhamphus, allied to the harpy eagles!). One species of honey-buzzard (Pernis) is a rare, but regular, migrant from Asia. The snake-eagles and Pernis are present in Wallacea, just to the north, as are the buzzards (Butastur), and the Bat Hawk reaches New Guinea, where a very isolated harpy eagle (Harpyopsis, among an otherwise South American group) also occurs. The Falconidae is represented in Australia only by the cosmopolitan genus Falco, the true falcons. The family is most diverse in South America, with genera of pygmy falcons and falconets also occurring in the Old World tropics. The major external differences distinguishing the falcons from the hawk family are: the ‘toothed’ upper mandible, with a corresponding notch near the tip of the lower mandible; black head markings varying from a full ‘helmet’ to a wispy malar stripe; and brown eyes surrounded by a prominent ring of yellow or pale skin. The Australian falcons, and most others in the genus Falco, also have long pointed wings.

Identification Detailed, feather-by-feather descriptions and good illustrations or photographs of Australian raptors give a very good idea of what the various species look like up close, obligingly immobile and perched and, in

some cases, in flight. In practice, however, the raptor we are trying to identify is often a nondescript brown bird disappearing into the distance. Even in the hand, a raptor might look like any one of a confusing array of similar species. A more fruitful approach is to ignore minute plumage details and instead concentrate on shape, relative proportions, flight behaviour (the way a bird holds and flaps its wings) and characteristic behaviour or mannerisms and calls. Size is also important, particularly if a reference point against which to judge relative size is present. The characteristic underwing patterns of certain species can be obvious in good views. Look for the shape of the wings – are they long or short, broad or narrow, pointed, ‘fingered’ (splayed primary feathers) or rounded? Also the length and shape of the tail – it could be long or short, wedge-shaped, rounded, square or notched (but beware of differences caused by moult of the tail feathers). The length of the legs and projection of the head and bill in front of the wings might help. Most importantly, look for the way the wings are carried in gliding and soaring flight (the positions can differ) and the style of flapping flight. The wings could be back-swept (flexed at the carpals) or straight out, or the carpals might be carried forwards, producing curved leading and trailing edges. Bear in mind that the degree of flexure, and closing up of the primaries to produce pointed tips, depends on the speed and angle of gliding descent. The wings may be held above the plane of the body in a shallow or steep V when gliding or soaring, or held level with the body, or they may be bowed with the tips below the plane of the body. 3

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Look especially for the speed and depth of flapping – is it slow or fast, deep or shallow? Be careful, however, of the effect that strong wind has on wing carriage and flapping style. Finally, at close range, note any details such as conspicuous plumage markings, eye colour, bare or feathered legs and, if perched, the bird’s posture and relative lengths of legs, wing tips and tail (that is, whether the wing tips fall short of the tail tip, level with it or project beyond it). Locality, habitat and perching site will help. In the hand, note: the colour of the cere, eyes and feet; relative lengths of wings, tail, legs and toes; nature of the legs (naked or feathered, type of scalation); and any prominent plumage markings. The age of digital cameras has ushered in a new level of resolution and aided in the identification of ‘frozen’ flight images captured in the field, and many reference images are now available on the internet (but beware of some mislabelled web images). We can now look critically at captured flight images and discern, for instance, the number of primary ‘fingers’ on medium-sized brown soaring hawks (five in Accipiter and harriers, six in most others), the length of legs and toes in relation to the tips of the longest undertail coverts, the boldness of underwing barring and the amount of pale blue on the bill in the Brown Goshawk versus the Collared Sparrowhawk, or any other critical field marks that are difficult to see on a moving bird. Observers should be aware that rare plumage aberrations can occur in any species. These are typically leucistic (pale or ‘washed-out’) variations to part or all of the normal plumage, but can include scattered white feathers or all-white plumage: 4

leucino if the soft parts (eyes, cere, feet) are normally pigmented; albino if the soft parts are also unpigmented. Other characteristics, as described, must then be used to identify such birds. In the species accounts in this guide, total length is measured from the tip of the bill to tip of the tail. The relative length of the tail is also given, to convey the general bodily proportions. Wingspan is the maximal natural extension from wing tip to wing tip. For most Australian species the colour of the plumage is similar for both sexes, although all are sexually dimorphic in size (to varying degrees), with females larger than males. The range and mean of recorded bodyweights for adult-sized birds (including fledged juveniles) is given separately for the sexes, based on data from HANZAB (which included passively collected, possibly dehydrated or emaciated, museum specimens) and later published data; healthy wild birds may be slightly heavier. In addition to terms such as gliding, soaring, hovering, kiting and stooping, which have precise meanings and are defined in the glossary, some explanation of flight attitudes is necessary. The term dihedral (having two plane surfaces) describes the V shape formed when the two wings are raised above the plane of the body. This is qualified as strong, medium or slight to denote the degree to which the wings are raised above the horizontal plane (greater than 15°, 5−15° and 0−5°, respectively). A modified dihedral is when the inner part of the wing, from body to carpal, is raised and the outer part, from carpal to primaries, is mostly flat, with the primary tips curled up in those species with emarginated primaries.

Introduc tion: Birds of prey

Details for ageing and sexing raptors are given in the species accounts. Juveniles of many species can be recognised in the hand by their fresh, evenly worn flight and tail feathers, often with pale tips showing as a uniform, translucent trailing edge and sometimes with symmetrical fault bars extending uniformly across neighbouring feathers. Juveniles of many hawk species also have pale tips to the greater upperwing coverts, showing as a pale line down the centre of the spread upperwing. Fledglings, just out of the nest, have the bases of their flight and tail feathers still ensheathed in ‘blood’ quills and may have traces of down sticking to the ends of their body feathers or showing on their head. Raptors are adultsized at fledging but have short wing and tail feathers; small size does not necessarily mean that the bird is a baby. Downy chicks can be identified by family or genus characters such as the nature of the bill (e.g. presence of tomial ‘teeth’), colour and nature of the down, character of the feet (length of tarsi and toes, type of tarsal scalation) and any distinctive markings. Raptor nestlings pass through two downy stages: the first down is rather short and silky; the second thicker and woollier (especially in falcons). A word of warning: many internet raptor images (e.g. on Google Images or on some websites or other online sources mentioned on Birding-Aus and other chatlines) are misidentified. In the photographs in this guide, a few raptors are showing the effects of moult (e.g. missing inner primaries) or feather wear/breakage.

Food and hunting In the broad sense, many birds are predatory: they catch and eat other animals.

Even small and medium-sized songbirds take some small vertebrates including skinks, mice, birds, eggs and nestlings. Raptors have simply taken it a step further by catching and eating larger vertebrates, including other birds, up to or greater than their own body size, and have rather fearsome weaponry to do the job. Raptors vary greatly in their food and feeding habits. However, all Australian species eat other vertebrates, and for some they are a major part of the diet. For many species in southern regions diet now means introduced rats, mice, rabbits or feral birds. Some, such as the Pacific Baza and Nankeen Kestrel, are mainly insectivorous. Some others, such as the large kites and Brown Falcon, eat a wide variety of prey; they and the large eagles eat some carrion. A few are highly specialised, such as the Osprey, which eats fish, the Elanus kites, which eat rodents, and the Squaretailed Kite, which takes small prey from the tree canopy. One, the Brown Falcon, seems particularly adapted to catching venomous snakes, and another, the Blackbreasted Buzzard, uses stones to break the eggs of large ground-nesting birds such as the Emu and perhaps smaller eggs too. Raptors hunt on the wing or from a perch. Small species of open country, such as the small kites and Nankeen Kestrel, often hover. The short-winged goshawks of wooded country skulk in ambush on a concealed perch and flash out to attack. Most of the falcons are highly aerial, coursing rapidly at low levels or quartering and soaring, then attacking in a stoop. Many of the larger raptors, such as kites and eagles, spend some of their time searching from slow soaring or quartering flight. The acute 5

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vision of raptors is highly sensitive to prey movement, but high visual resolution also permits some to see cryptic immobile prey. In addition, harriers have an owl-like facial ruff, which might help them to pinpoint the sounds of prey in dense cover. Prey is taken by stealth and surprise. A chase develops if the prey is alerted before contact. Raptors catch their prey by seizing or striking it with the feet, and dismember it by holding it with the feet and tearing with the bill, often starting at the head. Members of the hawk family make a kill by clutching strongly with the feet to crush the prey and drive the claws through its vital organs. The falcon family makes the kill by holding the prey in the feet and biting through the vertebrae at the base of the skull if the heavy blow from the feet, delivered in flight, has not already done the job. Either way, death comes quickly if not instantly. Captured prey is carried off in the feet, or eaten on the spot if it is small or too heavy to carry. A large meal results in a visibly bulging crop, which can change a raptor’s normally smooth silhouette. Leftovers might be cached for later retrieval and consumption. The indigestible remains of a raptor’s meal, such as insect exoskeletons, bones, fur, feathers, teeth, claws and scales, are regurgitated as a pellet or ‘casting’. Pellets, along with other remains such as feathers or bones, discarded as the raptor eats its prey, can be collected under roosts and nests and used to analyse the diet. The diets of most species in eastern Australia and the arid zone, and the Wedge-tailed Eagle in south-western Australia, have been analysed, and there have been recent dietary studies on nearly half the species in 6

the tropics, but we still know little about the diets of most species in south-western Australia.

Behaviour The aspects of raptor behaviour that receive most attention from researchers are hunting behaviour and success, breeding dispersion and territoriality, social behaviour and breeding behaviour. Many of these aspects have been covered fairly well for common species in eastern Australia, but there is scope for more work on hunting success in most species and on all aspects of behaviour in the uncommon or endemic species, particularly in the southwest and tropics. For many common and well-studied species, the next step is to study social organisation and behaviour in a population of individually marked birds and to conduct community studies. Serious amateurs can still contribute much by taking careful notes, relating observations to prior knowledge (use HANZAB 2 and Australasian Eagles and Eagle-like Birds as starting points) and publishing significant findings. Each raptor genus has its own characteristic way of doing things, and familiarity with behaviour patterns is a valuable aid to raptor identification. Look for the way a raptor moves, forages and perches, and the sorts of places in which it conducts these activities. There is really no substitute for getting to know a few common species intimately. Aerial displays are associated with breeding. They proclaim ownership of territory and probably allow females to judge the aerial prowess, hence hunting ability, of prospective mates. The members of the

Introduc tion: Birds of prey

hawk family employ aerial manoeuvres such as undulating dives, slow-flapping flight with lowering of the legs, and ritualised attack and defence. The falcons employ aerobatics and ritualised attack and defence, with special postures on perches and at nest sites. These activities culminate in courtship (or supplementary) feeding, which reveals the male’s capacity as a provider and enables the female to achieve the body condition necessary for laying eggs. Here, as in HANZAB, displays are given descriptive names such as undulating display (also called sky-dancing), flutter-flight display and bowing display.

Breeding Most Australian raptors breed in stick nests in trees or, in some species, occasionally on artificial structures. Members of the hawk family usually build their own nests; some will also refurbish existing nests, sometimes of another species. They line their nests with green leaves and, in the large scavenging kites commensal with humans, with human rubbish. An exception is the Swamp Harrier, which nests on the ground or in swamps. Unlike the hawks, falcons do not build their own nest but adopt an old stick nest or even usurp one from the original owner. Some, such as the Australian Hobby, remove the lining. The Brown Falcon occasionally adds material to an existing nest. The Nankeen Kestrel and Peregrine Falcon also breed in tree hollows and on ledges of cliffs or city buildings. In general, clutch size varies with body size, ranging from one or two eggs in large eagles to five or six in the small Elanus kites and Nankeen Kestrel. The length of each phase of the breeding cycle also varies

with body size. Incubation ranges from 4 weeks in the smallest species to 6 weeks in large eagles. Similarly, nestling periods range from 4 weeks in the smallest species to almost 3 months in large eagles. Raptors usually breed in spring, but in some species in the moist tropics the laying season extends throughout the dry season, from the austral autumn to spring. Most species rear a single brood in any given year. However, the Black-shouldered Kite breeds between autumn and spring, sometimes rearing two broods in a year. The Letter-winged Kite breeds continuously during rat plagues. Most Australian species breed in simple dispersed pairs. Notable exceptions are the Letter-winged Kite, which nests in loose colonies, and the Black-breasted Buzzard, which very occasionally, under some circumstances, might breed in polyandrous trios (although this behaviour requires investigation, and recent studies found the duos typical of its relatives). Male goshawks and sparrowhawks are occasionally bigamous and some harriers are polygynous, although this is rare in the Swamp Harrier, which is usually monogamous. In most raptors the male’s role is to provide the food from courtship and egg-laying until the nestlings are well grown, when the female is then freed to hunt as well. In many species the male will cover eggs or chicks while the female is off feeding on prey provided by him. The male might even share daytime incubation. In a few, notably the Square-tailed Kite and Blackbreasted Buzzard, males take a greater share in nest duties. The usual division of labour between the sexes is intimately connected with the 7

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phenomenon of reversed sexual size dimorphism, in which female raptors are larger than their mates. It is particularly noticeable in raptors that hunt difficult prey (large or agile birds) in situations that place the hunter at risk of injury, either from the prey or from collisions with obstacles. It seems that females have evolved relatively large body size either to compete successfully for a good provider in a good territory or as a hedge against periods of food shortage while they are tied to nesting duties. Large females are also socially dominant over males and can thus commandeer food. They can also defend the nest strongly against predators. This subject requires further study. The breeding biology of most common species in eastern and central Australia, and of the Wedge-tailed Eagle in Western Australia and Red Goshawk in the tropics, has been well studied. A comprehensive account of the breeding cycle has been given for most species, also mainly in the east although there have been some notable recent gains in the tropics. Following recent studies, the gaps in knowledge are now, surprisingly, greatest for some common urban species (Collared Sparrowhawk, Australian Hobby) as well as the Letter-winged Kite, and for most species in the south-west. For all Australian species, we have at least a general idea of the usual breeding season, site and construction of the nest, clutch size, incubation and nestling periods and parental roles. For some, breeding densities and the above-mentioned aspects have been quantified, and for most, a detailed account of events from courtship and nest-building to fledging exists. The difficulty is to obtain detailed 8

information on the rest of the cycle, from the post-fledging period to independence of the young, but a start has been made with radio-tracked juvenile Wedge-tailed Eagles and Little Eagles. We still have too little information on breeding success for many species, in terms of the number of young fledged per territorial pair per year in sample locations. Amateurs can help to fill these knowledge gaps, either with their own observational studies for publication or by participating in scientific projects run by others.

Handling raptors Anyone with an interest in birds could be asked to rescue a raptor in distress. This subject is treated in greater detail by other books, to which readers are referred (see bibliography). The important points are that captured or cornered raptors can inflict severe damage with their feet to human hands, arms or faces; some (notably falcons) will also bite. They will be calmed and restrained if enveloped in a dark cloth or similar when catching them, and then held in a dark, cool and ventilated container such as a cardboard box. They panic and damage themselves severely if enclosed by wire mesh. Handling of raptors for research purposes (banding and other forms of marking) is best learnt under the tutelage of an experienced person. Indeed, permits to trap and mark raptors, or to hold and rehabilitate raptors, are (or should be) granted only to those with sufficient experience and accreditation. The subject of raptor rehabilitation is a specialised field, dealt with in more detail in other books (see bibliography). It demands a high degree of

Introduc tion: Birds of prey

skill, dedication and the appropriate facilities in order to avoid problems such as further injuring or stressing captive raptors, releasing ostensibly healthy raptors to certain death or imprinting young raptors on humans. Raptors are neither pets nor suitable subjects for the average wildlife rescuer. The holding of raptors for falconry, in the sense of taking and training wild raptors for hunting other animals for sport, is illegal in Australia, in the sense that wildlife authorities will not issue permits for such activities, which are also in contravention of animal welfare legislation.

Threats and conservation For each species I have summarised its official conservation status, using the accepted international terms for level of threat as determined by the definitive publication on the subject (Garnett et al. 2011, The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne) and as adopted by state and federal legislation. Information on population trends over the two decades to 2000 is taken from a comparison of reporting rates in the first national bird atlas in 1977–81 and the second in 1998–2001 (Barrett et al. 2003, The New Atlas of Australian Birds, RAOU, Melbourne). This comparison took account of changes in the detectability of birds, associated with changes in atlas survey methods. The New South Wales Bird Atlas (Cooper et al. 2014) enables more direct comparison of the situation in that state, because the project continued the method of national Atlas 1 and data have been analysed for the two decades to 2006. In discussing the main threats, I have used the past tense in relation to the effect

of DDT on the thickness of eggshells because DDT was banned from broadscale agricultural use in Australia in 1987 and eggshell thickness of affected species has returned to normal. DDT-induced eggshell thinning increased the likelihood of egg breakage, embryo death and poor reproductive success in affected species.

Taxonomic and geographical scope Taxonomic treatment and nomenclature in this guide follow the latest official BirdLife Australia checklist, the Working List of Australian Birds version 2.1 (February 2018), as reflected in the checklist in The Australian Bird Guide (CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2017). The present guide concentrates on the indigenous raptor fauna of the Australian continent and its nearshore islands. It deliberately excludes remote, oceanic island territories that are not biogeographically part of Australia or even the Australasian faunal region (Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands) because: ●●

●●

●●

●●

only two raptors reside on Christmas Island (Christmas Island Goshawk and Nankeen Kestrel, which are easily distinguishable from each other) it would be presumptuous to discuss rare vagrants that might reach these islands (e.g. Japanese Sparrowhawk) when I’ve no personal experience of them such vagrants are irrelevant to raptor community ecology in continental Australia there is a global raptor guide (FergusonLees and Christie, Raptors of the World, Helm, London), available in full handbook (2001) and field-guide (2005) 9

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format, that deals with these taxa, and some are covered in The Australian Bird Guide. Many Australian raptors occur continent-wide, or almost so. Nevertheless, distribution maps are now provided for those 25 species regularly occurring on the Australian mainland.

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Several unconfirmed, doubtful or otherwise inadmissible species to the Australian list are omitted from this edition, pending future confirmation of their occurrence.

PART I

FIELD GUIDE

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Species descriptions

Basic descriptive notes on each species are given here. Additional information relevant to field identification (particularly for the rarer or commonly misidentified species) is provided under ‘Characteristics’, as applicable, in the respective species account in Part II: Handbook. A separate section at the end of Part I: Field Guide highlights difficult species-pairs and their distinguishing characters. The final section in Part I discusses vagrants or potential vagrants, unconfirmed records and doubtful records.

Among the most problematic, recurrent cases of misreporting in birding circles are the female Swamp Harrier misidentified as the Red Goshawk, and the Grey Goshawk misidentified as the Grey Falcon. That is, there are false reports of Australia’s two rarest and most threatened species, accurate records of which are essential to researchers and wildlife managers.

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Osprey Pandion haliaetus Handbook p. 111, photo p. 84. 50−66 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 149−168 cm. Male 840–1260 g (average 1013 g), female 830–1910 g (average 1235 g). Intermediate in size between Brahminy Kite and White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Large hawk with long angular wings and heavy feet; long forearm bones, tapered wings like large seabird. Distinctive profile at rest: crested nape, bulging chest, concave belly, prominent carpals, wing tips reaching beyond tail tip. Adult brown with white head and underparts, dark streak through eye and down side of neck, mottled brown breast-band (narrow and faint in males, heavy in females). Underwings faintly barred, with dark carpal patches. Tail barred. Cere grey, eyes pale yellow to orange-yellow, feet pale grey. Juvenile similar but rustier, crown and nape more streaked, upperparts spotted cream (lost with wear), breast-band heavy and broad, eyes orange-yellow to orange. Chick uniquely patterned among raptors: grey-brown down with dorsal stripes and dark eye-stripe with brownish ring around the hindneck. Solitary hawk of inshore coastal and estuarine waters, occasionally inland

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rivers and lakes. Flight kite-like and buoyant with shallow, gentle rhythmic wingbeats; soars and glides on bowed wings with curved leading and trailing edges. Silhouette shows prominent head and bill, long narrow wings, square tail. Voice distinctive: plaintive or loud ringing whistles, repeated. Similar species: immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle with mottled breast-band on otherwise pale underparts, but has broad, rounded upswept wings and shorter wedge-shaped tail; juvenile Brahminy Kite has shorter, broader rounded wings, rounded tail, less projecting head and bill, small feet; soars on flat wings.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris Handbook p. 113, photos pp. 84–85. 33−37 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 82−94 cm. Male 181–295 g (average 249 g), female 270–340 g (average 293 g). Slightly larger than Nankeen Kestrel, with larger head, broader wings and shorter tail. Adult small white hawk with pale grey back and wings, darker primaries and black patch on each wing between carpals and body. Black carpal spot and dark grey primaries on underwings. Black patch in front of each eye and thin black line above and behind eye. Cere horn to yellow, eyes red, feet rich yellow. Juvenile washed or streaked rusty brown on head, back and breast with feathers of upperparts, including black wing patch, fringed white; cere horn, eyes brown, feet pale yellow. Chick has fawn first down, pale grey second down slightly browner on crown. Solitary or gregarious, diurnal hawk of open woodland, grassland, farmland with scattered trees; often on poles and wires. At rest sits low on short legs, wing tips reach beyond tail tip. Flight action rapid and winnowing. Glides on raised wings, hovers with legs lowered and tail depressed, drops feet-first with wings raised high over back (compare Nankeen Kestrel). After landing on perch, sometimes flicks tail upwards while giving weak whistling

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Gliding

notes. Other common call is harsh wheezing. Similar species: Letter-winged Kite except for underwing pattern, face pattern and style of flight (for differences, see pp. 18–19). Nankeen Kestrel slimmer, longer tailed and buffier from below, with black subterminal tail band; lacks underwing markings. Grey Falcon lacks black forewing and underwing markings, has barred wings and tail, is an active bird-hunter. Grey Goshawk has short, broad rounded wings lacking black markings; longer tail and legs; glides on bowed wings.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Letter-winged Kite Elanus scriptus Handbook p. 114, photo p. 85. 34−37 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 84−89 cm. Male 217–333 g (average 289 g), female 290–422  g (average 343 g). Similar in size, colour and proportions to Black-shouldered Kite. Adult white with pale grey back and wings, black patch on wings between carpal and body, although softer and more owl-like plumage. Grey wash on crown and nape, or grey cap; males whiter on crown. Underwings have thick black line from body to carpals, and pale primaries (reverse of Black-shouldered Kite’s underwing pattern). Letterwinged Kite has black patch in front of each eye joining a black ring around eye, enhancing large eyes and owl-like face. Cere dark horn to black, eyes red, feet cream. Juvenile washed brown on head, back and breast, lacking white feathertipping of juvenile Black-shouldered Kite (other than thin white line along outermost scapulars). Eyes brown. Chick has cream first down, light grey-brown second down (darker on head). Gregarious, usually nocturnal kite of tree-lined watercourses and adjacent grasslands of eastern arid zone; usually roosts by day in leafy trees, although alert and will flush and soar. Flight action slow and harrier-like, with gliding on raised wings; also sustained kiting on motionless

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Gliding

wings raised above body. Hunting behaviour similar to Black-shouldered Kite, but wing-beats slower and deeper. Calls are weak whistling and harsh rasping notes (like Black-shouldered Kite), and harsh slow chatter. Similar species: distinguished from Black-shouldered Kite by underwing pattern, paler, more translucent flight feathers, and slower, more buoyant and less direct flight. Barn Owl (Tyto alba) and Eastern Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris) similar at night, but owls have larger head, broader rounded wings and long dangling legs.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Square-tailed Kite Lophoictinia isura Handbook p. 118, photo p. 86. 50−56 cm (tail about half), wingspan 131−145 cm. Male 501 g (a juvenile); female 590–680 g (average 650 g). Similar size to milvine kites (Milvus, Haliastur) and harriers (Circus). Adult brown with white crown and face, rufous dark-streaked nape, pale upperwing band, pale rump, rufous underparts heavily dark-streaked on breast. Tail grey-brown with dark terminal band. Underwings have black carpal crescents, pale bases to primaries (visible on upperwings in flight), banded ‘fingers’. Cere pinkish white, eyes pale yellow, feet pinkish white. Juvenile brown with rufous scalloping, broadest on upperwing band; thin rufous line along centre of spread upperwing. Head and underparts rufous, finely dark-streaked. Tail barred centrally, plainer laterally. Cere pinkish white, eyes brown, feet cream. Worn plumage duller, paler. Immature (2nd year) intermediate, with darker upperparts, redder underparts and paler head than worn juvenile. Chick has white down, long and hair-like on head. Solitary hawk of open forest, woodland, scrub, heath and riverine trees. Glides on raised wings with carpals held forwards, primaries back-swept though widely splayed. At rest sits low on short legs hidden by thigh feathers; shows slightly crested nape, long primaries beyond tail tip. Usually silent; utters hoarse or plaintive yelp. Similar species: juvenile or immature Black-breasted Buzzard more robust with

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larger bill and feet, shorter black (not barred) primaries, shorter unbanded tail, more prominent white panels in wings. Whistling Kite sandier brown with large pale area on upperwings, rounded tail, glides on bowed wings. Pale Little Eagle chunkier with shorter primaries and tail, crisper underwing pattern, feathered tarsi, glides on level wings. Harriers have unbanded primaries, a rounded or wedgeshaped tail tip, long legs sometimes lowered in flight, no upperwing band or panels in wings, flap wings more frequently. Red Goshawk more robust with shorter, more pointed wings, quicker flight, massive legs. Black Kite has black (not barred) primaries, flat or bowed wings in gliding flight.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Black-breasted Buzzard Hamirostra melanosternon Handbook p. 119, photos pp. 86–87. 51−61 cm (tail about one-third), wingspan 147−156 cm. Male 1150–1300 g (average 1231 g), female 1210–1600 g (average 1420 g). Intermediate in size between Little Eagle and Wedge-tailed Eagle. Adult unmistakable, mainly black from below with contrasting wing panels (like Dollarbird, Eurystomus orientalis) and pale tail; juvenile and immature rufous or brown. Adult black, browner on wings and mottled rufous on back and shoulders. Nape, thighs and undertail coverts rufous. Tail grey-brown, unmarked. Underwings have mottled brown leading edge, unmarked grey secondaries and black primaries with white bases (visible on upperwings in flight). Cere pale pink, eyes brown, feet pale pink. Juvenile has blackish-brown wings with broad rufous scalloping, thin rufous line along centre of spread upperwing. Head, back and underparts rufous with dark streaks; tail grey-brown. Underwings have rufous leading edge, faintly barred secondaries, black primaries with creamy white bases. Cere light blue-grey to bluish-white, eyes light brown, feet greywhite. Immatures (pale phase: 2nd−3rd year) intermediate, browner than juvenile with black (particularly streaks on breast) increasing over time. Chick has white down, long and hair-like on head. Solitary hawk of wooded and open habitats, particularly riverine forests and woodlands, in northern and inland Australia. Flight buoyant, rapid low sailing or high soaring on long, broad raised wings, with canting from side to side. At rest shows 22

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Gliding

prominent bill, occipital crest, short legs, primaries extending well beyond tail tip. Common call a repeated hoarse yelping. Similar species: distant adult Wedgetailed Eagle black with some white in underwings, but has long wedge-shaped tail. Dark Little Eagle duller with pale upperwing band, indistinct pale panels in wings, longer barred tail, feathered tarsi; soars on flat wings. Juvenile/immature Buzzard can be confused with: Squaretailed Kite (more slender with longer barred primaries, pale upperwing band, dark carpal crescents on underwings, longer tail); Red Goshawk (shorter, less upswept wings, barred primaries, longer barred tail, massive legs, quicker flight); juvenile Brahminy Kite (flat wings in glide, rounded tail).

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Pacific Baza (Crested Hawk) Aviceda subcristata Handbook p. 121, photos pp. 87–88. 35−46 cm (tail about half), wingspan 80−105 cm. Male 259–357 g (average 307 g), female 290–448 g (average 347 g). Similar in size to Brown Goshawk, but larger wings. Adult slate-grey with brown wash on wings and lower back, pale belly with bold dark bands, pale rufous thighs and undertail coverts. Underwings have pale rufous leading edges, boldly barred primaries, broad dark terminal band on secondaries. Undertail has fine basal barring and broad dark terminal band. Cere blue-grey, eyes bright golden-yellow to (rarely) reddish-orange, feet pale blue-grey to cream. Juvenile has dark brown upperparts with fine pale rufous scalloping. Pale eyebrows, rufous partial collar and rufous wash to breast. Fine rufous bars on breast and between bold bars on belly. Cere pale yellow, eyes pale grey to pale yellow, feet cream to pale yellow. Chick has short white down, distinctive double-toothed bill; developing dark feathers of crest evident while still downy. Solitary or gregarious hawk of forest, woodland and urban trees in tropics and subtropics. Flight action loose and shallow or deeper with fluid, rowing wing-beats, head often held above plane of back. Soars

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and glides on flat or slightly bowed wings, but raises wings in V in display flight. At rest sits low on short legs, with long wing tips almost reaching tail tip, and distinctive crest readily visible. Common call a reedy two-note whistle, rising and falling. Similar species: plumage resembles Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk, but more boldly barred, shorter legs, longer wing tips almost reach tail tip; in flight has longer wings and slower wingbeats. Flight silhouette similar to milvine kites; can also be confused with Grey Goshawk and Little Eagle, but wing shape and boldly barred, widely splayed primaries diagnostic.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Oriental (Eastern) Honeybuzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus Migratory north Asian form, rarely reaching northern Australia, now known internationally as Pernis orientalis (separated from resident Crested or Indomalayan Honeybuzzard P. ptilorhynchus of south Asia). 54–65 cm (tail about half), wingspan 128–155 cm. Male 750–1280 g (average 1015 g), female 950–1490 g (average 1220 g). Slightly larger than milvine kites (Milvus, Haliastur) and harriers (Circus). Like oversized baza, with small head, long neck, slight crest, insectivorous habits. Large slim kite, highly variable and polymorphic. Adult brown to dark brown with grey face and grey-tinged secondaries (female browner), variable dark-bordered pale throat, sometimes with dark centre line; tail boldly and broadly banded. Underparts vary from dark-streaked pale rufous, to rufous with dark-streaked breast and pale-barred belly, to dark brown with pale mottling or barring. Underwings boldly banded. Cere grey, eyes red (male) or orange-yellow (female); feet yellow. Juvenile varies from paleheaded, more rufous version of pale adult, to dark brown like dark adult; variable pale rump. Slight pale-mottled upperwing band, thin pale line along centre of spread upperwing; more and narrower bars in underwings and tail. Cere yellow, eyes brown, feet yellow. Solitary, sluggish unobtrusive hawk of tree canopy in forest or woodland, also

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walks and feeds on ground; sometimes more open habitats on migration. Flight action deep and elastic, rather heavy and slow; soars and glides on flat or slightly arched broad wings with S-shaped trailing edge, six-fingered primaries; rounded tail. At rest sits low on short legs; shows prominent slender bill, slight crest, tail tip beyond wing tips. Voice a high-pitched screaming whistle, one to four notes (usually silent). Similar species: Short-toed SnakeEagle (not found in Australia, although occasionally claimed). Black Kite has forked tail; Whistling Kite and juvenile Brahminy Kite much less patterned; Square-tailed Kite has upswept wings, square or notched tail, longer and more banded primaries (beyond tail tip at rest); harriers have owl-like head, upswept wings, long legs; Little Eagle chunkier, with larger feathered legs.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Black (Fork-tailed) Kite Milvus migrans Handbook p. 125, photos pp. 88–89. 47−55 cm (tail about half), wingspan 120−139 cm. Male 500–640 g (average 554 g), female 560–671  g (average 626 g). Medium-sized, untidy brown soaring hawk, often gathering in flocks at carrion, refuse and fires. Has prominent pale band on upperwings; shallowly forked or square-tipped tail (when widely fanned) often twisted from side to side. Adult dark brown with pale forehead and throat, pale diagonal band on upperwings, black flight feathers. Underparts tinged chestnut, finely dark-streaked; underwings barred, with black outer primaries and pale inner primaries; undertail barred. Cere yellow, eyes brown or sometimes hazel, feet yellow. Juvenile paler, streaked sandy on head, upperparts and underparts, bolder underwing pattern (pale bases to primaries); pale line along centre of each spread upperwing. Cere yellow to greenish yellow, eyes brown, feet pale yellow. Chick has white first down, long and spiky on head with dark patch around each eye, pale fawn second down. Gregarious hawk, loosely commensal with human settlement, often in large flocks around towns, rubbish dumps, stockyards, piggeries, abattoirs and roads in northern and inland Australia. Flight action a loose rowing with some body movement; soars and glides on flat or

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slightly arched wings (can be momentarily upswept when gaining height). At rest sits low on short legs, with wing tips just reaching tail tip. Calls are various peevish squeals, mews and whinnies; one call like subdued tremulous version of Whistling Kite’s call, but does not ascend. Similar species: slimmer, darker and more agile than Whistling Kite, with narrower, more pointed wings, narrower upperwing band and forked (not rounded) tail. Dark Little Eagle more robust with larger bill, head and feet, shorter primaries, shorter unforked tail, feathered tarsi. Juvenile Brahminy Kite has broader wings, shorter rounded tail, lacks upperwing band. Black Kite sometimes misidentified as Square-tailed Kite, which is distinct (for differences, see p. 20).

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus Handbook p. 126, photo p. 89. 51−59 cm (tail about half), wingspan 123−146 cm. Male 550–685 g (average 632 g), female 740–1000 g (average 907 g). Similar in size to Little Eagle, with longer wings and tail, slimmer head and body. Medium-sized, untidy, sandy-brown hawk often attracted to carrion. In slow circling flight on slightly bowed wings with long splayed primaries, shows large pale area on upperwings and long, rounded pale tail, contrasting with dark flight feathers. Adult mottled or streaky sandy-brown with pale head, darker flight feathers and black primaries. Distinctive underwing pattern: pale leading edge, dark secondaries, pale inner primaries and dark outer primaries. Bars on underwings and tail faint or absent. Cere pale grey, eyes brown, feet cream. Juvenile darker (rustier), underparts more streaked, upperparts spotted buff or white; pale line along centre of each spread upperwing formed by pale tips to greater coverts. Cere dark grey, eyes and feet as adult. Chick has cream first down, browner on head where long and spiky; pale fawn second down, browner on back. Solitary or gregarious kite of most terrestrial habitats except dense forest, often around water including estuaries, coastlines and inland drainages. Flight action rather deep, jerky rowing with some body

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movement; soars and glides on bowed wings with carpals held forwards, producing curved leading and trailing edges to wings. At rest sits low on short legs, long tail projecting well beyond wing tips. Voice distinctive: loud whistle sliding down scale, preceded or followed by rapid upscale chatter. Similar species: juvenile Brahminy Kite more compact with shorter primaries, wholly dark upperwings, shorter tail, glides on flat wings. Little Eagle more robust with larger head, heavier feathered legs, narrower pale upperwing band, straighter wings with shorter primaries, shorter square tail; glides on flat wings. Black Kite darker with narrower pale upperwing band, narrower, more pointed wings, forked tail. Juvenile Square-tailed Kite more rufous with longer barred primaries, upswept wings, square-tipped tail.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus Handbook p. 128, photos pp. 90–91. 45−51 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 109−124 cm. Male 320–610 g (average 536 g), female 510–673 g (average 588 g). Slightly smaller than Whistling Kite, with shorter wings and tail. Adult chestnut and white, unmistakable. Juvenile a mediumsized dark soaring hawk, paler on head and underparts, with broad rounded wings and short tail; lacks pale upperwing band. Translucent pale tip to tail, broadest on central feathers, can suggest square tail. Adult rich chestnut with white head, breast and tail tip, black outer primaries. Cere cream to pale blue, eyes reddishbrown, feet cream. Newly fledged juvenile has dark brown upperparts with cream spots, mottled brown head and underparts, dark horizontal line through eye, pale belly and undertail; underwing pattern suggests pale Little Eagle or immature Black-breasted Buzzard, although more diffuse. Plumage fades with wear to brown upperparts, pale head and underparts. Cere grey, eyes brown, feet cream. Immatures are patchy mixture of faded juvenile plumage and dull adult-like plumage (‘dirty’ white). Chick has cream to fawn down, long and spiky on head and darkest on back. Solitary or gregarious kite of inshore coastal and estuarine waters and adjacent land, sometimes over forest or inland along rivers in tropics and subtropics. Flight

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Gliding

action a rather loose rowing, with carpals held forwards in glide. Glides on flat wings, slightly raised when soaring. Glides or sideslips to snatch food from tideline or water surface. Voice distinctive: plaintive descending cry like bleating lamb. Similar species to juvenile Brahminy Kite: Osprey has prominent head and bill, longer, narrower and more pointed wings, white belly, square tail, heavy feet; plunges into water. Whistling Kite has pale upperwings, longer and more splayed primaries, bowed wings in glide, long tail. Pale Little Eagle more robust with pale upperwing band, crisper underwing pattern, square tail, feathered tarsi. Immature Blackbreasted Buzzard has upswept wings, square tail.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster Handbook p. 129, photos pp. 91–92. 75−85 cm, wingspan 180−218 cm. Male 2120–2900 g (average 2651 g), female 2900–3900 g (average 3663 g); heavier in Tasmania (averages: male 3.2 kg, female 3.8 kg). Similar in size to Wedge-tailed Eagle, but shorter wings and tail. Adult a large grey and white eagle, unmistakable. Juvenile mottled brown with broad upswept wings; pale bases to primaries; short, pale wedge-shaped tail. Adult white with grey back, wings and base of tail. Cere pale grey to light blue-grey, eyes brown, legs and feet cream. Juvenile brown with pale feather tips; head paler and mottled. Tail white, shading to light brown at tip. Underwings have pale panel across bases of primaries. Cere grey to blue-grey, eyes brown, legs and feet cream. Immatures (2nd−4th or 5th year) become increasingly paler and similar to adult; some at intermediate stages have white head and underparts with mottled breast-band like Osprey. Chick has white down. Solitary or loosely gregarious eagle of coasts, estuaries, rivers, inland lakes and adjacent land habitats; sometimes overflies other habitats. Flight a powerful rowing action; glides and soars on broad, stiffly upswept wings with curved trailing edges.

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SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Juveniles have more bulging secondaries, trailing edges of wings appear serrated. At rest robust and chunky, with wing tips enveloping or projecting slightly beyond tail tip, bare tarsi evident. Voice distinctive: deep goose-like honking or cackling; begging juveniles give more prolonged yelping or wailing. Similar species: juvenile or immature Sea-Eagle can be confused with Osprey, but has shorter primaries; much broader, rounded upswept wings; shorter, wedgeshaped tail. Wedge-tailed Eagle darker with longer wings and tail, feathered tarsi, less upswept wings in gliding or soaring flight. Black-breasted Buzzard darker (adult) or streaked black on breast (immature), with more distinct panels in wings, square tail, more buoyant, rocking flight.

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Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus Handbook p. 133, photos p. 93. 40–55 cm (tail about half), wingspan 74–96 cm. Male 260–425 g (average 350 g), female 440–700 g (average 570 g) (Tasmanian females heavier, 465–740 g; average 614 g). Tropical subspecies didimus smaller: 37–46 cm, wingspan 70–85 cm, male 200–268 g (average 227 g), female 310–405 g (average 343 g). Slightly smaller than Brown Falcon, with shorter broader wings. Fierce active hawk with rounded wings, long rounded tail, long legs. Adult slate-grey upperparts, sometimes washed brown (especially in females); rufous halfcollar. Underparts finely barred dull rufous and white, underwings and tail finely barred. Cere cream to olive-yellow, eyes yellow, legs and feet yellow to orangeyellow. Subspecies didimus paler. Juvenile brown with pale-streaked head and nape, rufous-edged dorsal feathers. Underparts white with heavily brown-streaked breast and coarsely brown-barred belly. Underwings and tail finely barred. Cere oliveyellow, eyes brown (in fledglings) to pale yellow, legs and feet pale yellow. Immature (2nd year) brown without pale streaks or rufous feather edging; some have chestnut half-collar. Underparts barred brown and white. Chick has white first down, light salmon-brown second down with white ‘skull-cap’. Solitary secretive hawk of wooded habitats including farmland and urban trees. Flight action rapid and powerful with bursts of quick deep wing-beats; glides on slightly bowed wings; soars on slightly upswept wings. At rest sits high on long 38

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Gliding

legs, with short wings not reaching tail tip. Gives rapid and sometimes shrill or slower and mellow chattering calls, and upslurred mewing notes. Similar species: Collared Sparrowhawk in flight has smaller head; more curved trailing edges to wings; square or notched, sharp-cornered tail tip; more winnowing or flickering, jerky flight; more boldly barred underwings (flight feathers). At rest, Sparrowhawk has more staring eyes (lacking heavy brow-ridges), more spindly legs, relatively longer middle toe. Some Brown Goshawks little darker dorsally than Grey Goshawk, which has broader, more rounded wings and shorter squarer tail. Pacific Baza more boldly barred with long splayed primaries, slow flight; at rest shows crest, long wings almost reaching tail tip, short legs. Perched Brown Falcon has dark facial marks, dark eyes, long wings reaching tail tip.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus Handbook p. 135, photos p. 94. 29−38 cm (tail about half), wingspan 55−78 cm. Male 98–160 g (average 126 g), female 162–300 g (average 218 g). Male similar in size to Nankeen Kestrel but has shorter broader wings; female similar in size to male Brown Goshawk, though slighter. Small, fierce, finely built hawk with rounded wings, long square-tipped tail, staring yellow eyes, long legs. Adult has slate-grey upperparts, sometimes with brown wash, and chestnut half-collar. Underparts finely barred rufous and white. Underwings and tail finely barred. Cere cream to olive-yellow, eyes yellow, legs and feet yellow. Juvenile has brown upperparts with pale-streaked head and nape, finely rufous-edged dorsal feathers. Underparts white with heavily brown-streaked breast, coarsely brown-barred belly. Underwings and tail finely barred. Cere cream to greenish-yellow, eyes brown (in fledglings) to pale yellow, legs and feet pale yellow. Chick has white first down, greyer second down with white ‘skull-cap’. Solitary secretive hawk of most wellwooded habitats including farmland and urban areas. Flight rapid with bursts of quick wing-beats; low direct flight variously flickering and jerky (‘hedge-hopping’ hunting flight), undulating like cuckoo-shrike, or occasionally with slow wing-beats like Pacific Baza. Glides on flat or slightly drooped wings; soars on slightly upswept wings. At rest sits high on long legs, with

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Gliding

short wings not reaching tail tip. Some calls more rapid, thinner and higher pitched than Brown Goshawk; begging juveniles give distinctive loud, slow downslurred mew repeated in series. Similar species: Brown Goshawk in flight has longer head and neck, straighter trailing edges to wings, longer rounded tail and heavier deeper wing-beats; at rest has more beetle-browed menacing expression, sturdier legs, heavier feet with relatively shorter middle toe. Australian Hobby has dark head pattern, dark eyes; long, narrow pointed wings (reaching tail tip at rest), short legs. Pacific Baza has bolder barring, long splayed primaries, slow flight; at rest it shows crest, long wings almost reaching tail tip, short legs.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae Handbook p. 136, photos pp. 95–96. 38−55 cm (tail slightly less than half), wingspan 71−110 cm. Male 238–440 g (average 361 g), female 530–894 g (average 716 g) (heavier in Tasmania: male 254–470 g, average 396 g; female 515–1050 g, average 786 g). Slightly larger and more heavily built than Brown Goshawk, with broader wings and shorter squarer tail. Grey and white, or all-white, goshawk with bright orange-yellow cere and feet; wings very broad and rounded, legs and feet massive. Only white morph occurs in Tasmania. Adult grey morph grey dorsally and white ventrally with fine grey barring on breast, faintly barred underwings and tail. Cere orange-yellow, eyes deep red, legs and feet orange-yellow. Juvenile grey morph similar to adult, with coarser wavy bars on breast and slight brown collar; some tropical juveniles browner and more heavily and extensively barred ventrally, or streaked on the chest as well, resembling a fainter version of the juvenile Brown Goshawk. Cere yellow, eyes brown (in fledglings) to yellowish-brown or orange (2nd year). Adult white morph entirely white; bare parts as adult grey morph. Juvenile white morph entirely white, some birds having faint underwing and tail barring. Bare parts as juvenile grey morph. Chick has white down. Solitary secretive hawk of tall wet forest and riverine forest; occasionally more open woodland and urban areas. Flight action quick, but sometimes shallower and

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Gliding

more laboured than Brown Goshawk. Soars and glides on bowed wings, or slightly upswept wings when soaring to gain height. Tail sometimes widely fanned. At rest sits high on long legs, with long tail extending well beyond short wing tips. Most common call is series of mellow, rather nasal, upslurred ringing whistles. Similar species: pale-backed adult Brown Goshawks have narrower wings, longer, more rounded tail, coloured underparts. Grey Falcon has long, narrow pointed wings with black tips (extending to tail tip at rest), shorter legs; winnowing or flickering flight. Elanus kites have black forewings, black marks on underwings, long pointed wings, short white tails, short legs; hovering flight. Pacific Baza has longer wings with splayed barred primaries, boldly barred belly, short legs; slow flight.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Red Goshawk Erythrotriorchis radiatus Handbook p. 138, photo p. 96. 46−61 cm (tail about half), wingspan 111−136 cm. Male 630–640 g (average 635 g); female 1110–1370 g (average 1240 g). Similar size to Little Eagle. Adult brown, paler and streaked on head, broadly scalloped rufous dorsally. Face grey, finely streaked. Flight feathers slate-grey, darkbarred; tail slate-grey, variably barred (heaviest in females). Underparts rufous (paler, to white on belly, in females), brightest on thighs, streaked on breast. Underwings have pale flight feathers with bold dark bars; undertail barred. Cere and orbital skin pale blue-grey to pale grey, eyes brown to yellow (males) or golden to pale yellow (females), legs and feet yellow. Juvenile has redder upperparts (broader and more extensive rufous scalloping), barred tail. Head and underparts rufous, finely dark-streaked; underwings obscurely barred. Cere and orbital skin pale blue, eyes dark brown, legs and feet pale grey or cream to yellow. Chick has white down, long and hair-like on head. Solitary secretive hawk of coastal and subcoastal forest and woodland in tropics and subtropics. Flight action rapid and powerful, or more leisurely; soars and glides on level to slightly raised wings. At rest shows slight crest, powerful shoulders, long legs with large feet (long toes), tail tip just beyond wing tips. Voice distinctive: raucous shrieks and cackling like Brown Falcon and Peregrine Falcon.

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Similar species: rufous Brown Falcon slimmer with double cheek-mark, rounded shoulders, longer wing tips (reaching tail tip at rest), rounded tail, smaller feet (short toes). Square-tailed Kite has small bill, much longer wings, short legs and small feet, slow sailing flight. Harriers slimmer with rounded or wedge-shaped tail tips, long slender legs; slow sailing flight low to ground. Black-breasted Buzzard has longer wings, much shorter tail, short legs. Little Eagle has shorter wings and tail, feathered tarsi. Whistling Kite has small pale legs and feet. Juvenile Brown Goshawk has rufous edges to dorsal feathers but has white, coarsely streaked and barred underparts, shorter wings, rounded tail extending well beyond wing tips at rest.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis Handbook p. 141, photos pp. 97–98. 50−61 cm long (tail about half), wingspan 121−147 cm. Male 409–537 g (average 458 g), female 530–745 g (average 635 g). Similar in size to Whistling Kite and Swamp Harrier, with lankier build than latter. Adult slate-grey with chestnut, greystreaked head and face, chestnut shoulder patch, white-spotted wings, dark-barred flight and tail feathers. Underparts chestnut spotted white, merging into finely barred thighs. Underwings (flight feathers) pale with dark tips and trailing edges. Cere yellow (occasionally paler), eyes yellow to orange-yellow, legs and feet yellow. Juvenile dark brown with buff feather tips, buff forewing patch, fawn rump, broadly dark-barred tail. Head and face pale rufous, streaked brown. Underparts buff, finely dark-streaked. Underwings (flight feathers) pale with dark tips and trailing edges; undertail thickly barred. Cere pale yellow (sometimes tinged green), eyes dark brown, legs and feet yellow. Immatures pass through stage (2nd year) of adult-like but more mottled upperparts, heavily streaked underparts with variable dark hood; then (3rd year) adult-like plumage but white streaks, not spots, on rufous underparts. Chick has grey first down with white facial ruff, greybrown second down. Solitary harrier of crops, grassland, low shrubland and open woodland in inland and northern Australia; sometimes coastal

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Soaring

grassland, heath or swamps. Flight buoyant with gentle rhythmic wing-beats and extended glides. Sails low to ground with wings held in dihedral; tail ‘dished’ from behind (edges curved up), with wedgeshaped tip. At rest sits high on long legs, with tail tip projecting just beyond wing tips. Usually silent; breeding birds utter piercing squeaks and rapid chatter. Similar species: adult Swamp Harrier has heavier build, white (not fawn) rump, lightly barred tail with gently rounded to almost square tip, lacks pale upperwing patch. Square-tailed Kite has longer barred primaries, square or notched tail twisted in flight, short legs. Red Goshawk more robust with crested nape, quicker flight, less upswept wings in glide, square tail, heavy legs and feet.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Swamp Harrier Circus approximans Handbook p. 143, photos pp. 98–99. 50−61 cm (tail almost half), wingspan 121−142 cm. Male 530–740 g (average 632 g), female 740–1080 g (average 868 g). Similar in size to large kites and Spotted Harrier, with heavier build than latter. Adult male has tricoloured pattern of brown saddle, grey wings and black wing tips. Rump white; tail grey, lightly barred. Underparts white, streaked rufous (with variable hooded effect). Underwings and undertail faintly barred. Cere yellow, eyes pale yellow, legs and feet yellow to orangeyellow. Adult female darker and browner, with grey wash to flight feathers. Underparts buff, heavily streaked rufous-brown. Cere yellow, eyes light brown to pale yellow (older birds), legs and feet yellow. Juvenile dark brown with white-streaked nape, rufous rump, faint bars on orange-washed tail. Underparts dark brown, fading to rufous. Underwings unbarred, with pale area towards tips. Cere yellow, eyes dark brown (changing to light brown in males), legs and feet yellow. Immature male similar to adult; eyes golden (2nd year) to pale yellow (3rd year). Immature female similar to adult; underparts darker brown, eyes brown. Chick has fawn to white first down with white ‘skull-cap’ and facial mask, grey to buffy-white second down. Solitary or loosely gregarious harrier of lakes, swamps, grassland, coastal heath and tall crops. Flight action buoyant with smooth rhythmic wing-beats and long glides, holding wings in dihedral, with slight rocking or tilting from side to side. 48

Soaring and slow gliding Fast gliding

At rest sits high on long legs, with wing tips reaching, or almost reaching, tail tip. Usually silent; soaring birds sometimes utter high-pitched, descending mew. Similar species: juvenile Spotted Harrier more ginger, has pale forewing patch, fawn (not white) rump, heavily barred tail with wedge-shaped tip, more buoyant flight. Square-tailed Kite has longer barred primaries, square or notched tail twisted in flight, short legs. Brown Falcon smaller with double cheek-mark, more pointed and less upswept wings, lacks pale rump. Red Goshawk more robust with crested nape, quicker flight, less upswept wings in glide, heavier legs and feet, lacks white rump. Previously, the similarity of some old male Swamp Harriers to the male Papuan subspecies C. approximans spilothorax was under­ appreciated (and the latter remains unconfirmed as a vagrant).

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax Handbook p. 146, photos p. 100. 85–104 cm (tail almost half), wingspan 186–227 cm. Male 2025–4000 g (average 2953 g), female 3050–5300 g (average 3963 g); heavier in Tasmania (averages: male 3.5 kg, female 4.1 kg). Largest Australian raptor: huge dark eagle with long wings, long wedge-shaped tail, baggy feathered legs; lanky build with large bill, small head, long neck, prominent shoulders (carpals) at rest. Adult sooty or brownish-black with tawny hackles on nape; narrow, mottled grey-brown upperwing bar (occupying less than a quarter of wing width); brown undertail coverts; pale bases to flight feathers (visible on underwings). Cere creamy-white, eyes brown, feet creamywhite. Juvenile dark brown with golden to reddish-brown nape, back and broad upperwing bar (more than half wing width); barred underwings and tail; pale undertail coverts; bulging secondaries produce curved trailing edges to wings. Cere yellow (fledglings) to cream, eyes grey to brown, feet yellow (fledglings) to cream. Immatures (2nd–4th year) similar but show moult or old and new flight and tail feathers, upperwing bar becoming narrower. Older birds (5th–7th year) darker, having reddish-brown nape, back and still narrower upperwing bar (quarter to half wing width). Chick has white down (including tarsi), long and hair-like on head, and prominent black bill. Solitary or gregarious eagle of most land habitats except intensively settled or

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cultivated areas. Flight action rather loose but deep and powerful; soars and glides with modified dihedral, long splayed primaries, tail ‘dished’ from behind (edges curved up in dihedral). Usually silent, but sometimes utters weak yelps and squeals, often with rolling quality. Similar species: distant Wedge-tailed Eagle in flight can be confused with other raptors that glide on upswept wings; distinguished by size, tail shape, plumage and flight behaviour. Adults with some white in underwings can be mistaken for Black-breasted Buzzard, which has distinct white panels in primaries (both surfaces) and short square tail. Juvenile White-bellied Sea-Eagle has shorter, broader, more stiffly upswept wings, short pale tail, bare tarsi.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Gurney’s Eagle Aquila gurneyi Soaring and gliding

A New Guinean species occurring on northern Torres Strait islands; unconfirmed reports for Cape York Peninsula. 74–86 cm (tail almost half), wingspan 170–190 cm. Female 3060 g. Similar in size to Wedge-tailed Eagle and White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Large dark eagle with long broad wings, long rounded tail, slim feathered legs. Adult entirely blackish-brown with paler upperwing band, grey-mottled undersides of flight and tail feathers. Cere creamy-grey, eyes brown to dark yellow, feet creamy to dull yellow. Juvenile browner than adult: variegated grey, light brown and dark brown on upperparts, with dull rufous head and pale grey upperwing band; rufous, dark-streaked underparts; paler tarsal feathering and vent. Cere bluish-white, eyes brown to hazel, feet white. Downy chick undescribed (presumably white with down-clad tarsi, as others in genus).

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Solitary eagle of tropical forests, mainly lowland and coastal rainforest. Flight action typical of genus: powerful and heavy; glides on broad, flat to slightly raised, almost straight and parallel-sided wings with bulging secondaries, separated primaries, long ample tail with rounded to slightly wedge-shaped tip. Voice a slightly nasal, downslurred piping. Similar species: Wedge-tailed Eagle has white feet, wedge-shaped tail; soars on obviously upswept wings. Juvenile Whitebellied Sea-Eagle has shorter broader wings with curved trailing edges; much shorter, pale tail; bare tarsi; stiffly upswept wings in gliding or soaring flight.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides Handbook p. 149, photos pp. 101–102. 45–55 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 110–136 cm. Male 440–810 g (average 635 g), female 745–1250 g (average 1046 g). Similar size to Whistling Kite but more robust, with shorter wings and tail; short broad head; stubby bill. Adult pale morph brown with pale upperwing band and scapulars. Head and underparts sandy or pale rufous, whiter on belly, with heavily black-streaked crown, crest and face, dark-streaked breast. Underwings have distinctive pale ‘M’ pattern. Tail barred. Cere pale grey or cream, eyes reddishbrown to orange-brown, feet pale grey or cream. Rare rufous variant has head and entire underparts richer rufous, heavily black-streaked. Adult dark morph head and underparts brown, heavily blackstreaked. Underwings wholly dark, except for pale inner primaries. Juvenile similar to adult of respective morph (including underwings), but richer rufous, less streaked head and underparts; darker upperparts; thin pale line along centre of spread upperwing. Cere cream to pale yellow, eyes brown, feet cream to pale yellow. Chick has white down (including tarsi), long and hair-like on head; first down has dark ‘mask’ around eyes, can be tinged rusty. Solitary eagle of most wooded habitats, although usually avoids dense forest. Flight action powerful and fluid, somewhat laboured, though capable of swift dives with closed wings. Glides and soars on flat

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Soaring

Gliding

wings, or slightly raised wings when gaining height, tail sometimes widely fanned. Most common call distinctive: loud, rapid, excited two- or three-note whistle. Similar species: Whistling Kite has smaller head, slender body, longer more splayed primaries, curved trailing edges to wings, longer rounded tail, bare tarsi, small feet. Juvenile Brahminy Kite lacks upperwing band; has indistinct underwing pattern, curved trailing edges to wings, rounded tail, bare tarsi. Square-tailed Kite slender, with longer, barred, more splayed primaries, upswept wings, longer tail, small feet. Black Kite more slender with longer primaries, longer forked tail, small feet. Sometimes mistaken for Blackbreasted Buzzard or Red Goshawk (for differences, see pp. 22, 48).

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Nankeen Kestrel (Australian Kestrel) Falco cenchroides Handbook p. 152, photos pp. 102–103. 30–35 cm (tail about half), wingspan 66–78 cm. Male 121–195 g (average 163 g), female 115–255 g (average 173 g.) Smallest Australian raptor (other than male Collared Sparrowhawk): smaller and slighter than Black-shouldered Kite, with narrower wings and longer rounded tail. Adult male has grey (or sometimes rufous) head finely dark-streaked, indistinct malar stripe. Upperparts rufous with sparse black streaks or spots and black wing tips. Rump and tail grey; tail with black subterminal band and white tip. Underparts buff, more rufous on chest and flanks, finely dark-streaked. Underwings pale, faintly barred. Cere and eye-ring yellow, eyes brown, feet yellow. Adult female head, rump and tail rufous (tail and rump can be washed grey); upperparts and underparts more heavily marked with black, tail variably barred. Juvenile similar to adult female; upperparts variably more streaked with black. Tail has more and narrower bars. Fledglings have richer rufous rump and tail, more conspicuous pale trailing edge to wings in flight. Cere and eye-ring pale grey with green or yellow tinge, changing to yellow; eyes brown, feet yellow. Chick has white down. Solitary or loosely gregarious falcon of most open habitats, characteristic of farm-

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land with scattered trees, inland shrublands and woodlands. Flight action rapid and winnowing, with sweeping glides on flat wings; hovers with body horizontal or kites in wind with motionless wings flexed and held above back; dives steeply onto ground prey with closed wings (compare Blackshouldered Kite). Most common call a strident, rapid, shrill chatter; also short single note repeated and upslurred chittering. Similar species: Black-shouldered Kite more robust, shorter tailed and cleaner white underneath; lacks black band on tail tip; juvenile rusty (like Kestrel) but has mottled black forewings, greyer upperwings, pale unbarred tail. Perched pale Brown Falcons larger with double cheekmark, brown thighs, long legs. Australian Hobby in flight darker, with more pointed wings and shorter squarer tail.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Brown Falcon Falco berigora Handbook p. 154, photos pp. 103–105. 41–51 cm (tail almost half), wingspan 89–109 cm. Male 316–790 g (average 476 g), female 430–860  g (average 610 g). Larger than Nankeen Kestrel, similar in size to Brown Goshawk but wings longer. Plumage highly variable. Adult varies from almost as pale as female Nankeen Kestrel (though with double cheek-mark, brown thighs and darker, more barred tail) to wholly dark brown with indistinct malar stripe; undertail coverts variously white, barred or dark. Spotted and barred dorsally; flanks spotted; underwings (flight feathers) and undertail always pale and strongly barred; pale bases to primaries and pale (‘shiny’) shafts of outer primaries visible on upperwings. Cere and eye-ring yellow (fully adult males) or pale grey to pale blue-grey, sometimes tinged dull yellow; eyes brown or (rarely) hazel; legs and feet pale bluegrey to pale grey. Juveniles all dark, lack flank spots: dark brown with buff face, double cheek-mark, rufous-edged dorsal feathers; sometimes also broad buff collar, buff or cream undertail coverts and variable mottling down centre of belly. Cere and eye-ring pale grey or blue-grey, eyes brown, legs and feet pale blue-grey to pale grey. Chick has pale rufous first down, pale grey second down. Solitary or loosely gregarious, excitable, vocal falcon of most open habitats. Flight action loose and rowing with heavy wingbeats, often erratic with jinking and sideslipping; can also fly swiftly. Glides on

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Soaring and gliding

Soaring and gliding

raised wings; soars with blunt wing tips upswept, curved trailing edges to wings, rounded tail often fanned; hovers or kites on wind. At rest sits high on long legs, wing tips reach tail tip. Frequently gives cackling, chattering and screeching calls. Similar species: perched Nankeen Kestrel smaller and paler with short legs and pale thighs. Red Goshawk more robust with crested nape, greyer flight and tail feathers, more massive legs and feet, squarer tail, faster flight; lacks dark facial marks. Black Falcon has more pointed wings, faster flight, square-tipped tail, short legs, glides on drooped wings (for further differences, see p. 64). Swamp Harrier lacks double cheek-mark; has less tapered, more upswept wings, pale rump.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Australian Hobby (Little Falcon) Falco longipennis Handbook p. 157, photo p. 105. 30–35 cm (tail almost half), wingspan 66–87 cm. Male 132–280 g (average 217 g), female 190–365 g (average 270 g). Similar in size to Nankeen Kestrel but more robust, with more pointed, rakish wings and slightly shorter, square tail. Adult has black crown and cheeks (partial helmet), and cream or buff forehead, throat and half-collar. Upperparts slate blue-grey to dark slate-grey, with black wing tips. Underparts buff to rufous, finely darkstreaked on breast and spotted on flanks. Underwings and tail finely barred. Cere pale yellowish-grey to pale yellow, eye-ring pale blue, eyes brown, feet dull yellow. Juvenile darker and browner, with richer rufous cast to head and underparts, rufous feather edges on upperparts and bars on tail; lacks flank spotting. Cere and eyering pale blue, eyes brown, feet pale yellow. Chick has white to cream, sometimes pale rusty, down. Solitary aggressive falcon of most open habitats including vegetated urban areas, but rarely around cliffs and escarpments; characteristic of open woodland and watercourses. Flight action dashing and flickering when hunting, otherwise more leisurely; glides on flat or slightly drooped wings with carpals flexed and tips swept back. Soars on outstretched flat wings

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turned back at carpals, with curved trailing edges. At rest shows slim build, small bill and feet, long wings reaching to, or just beyond, tail tip. Common call a sharp peevish chatter like Nankeen Kestrel but reedier and hoarser; also squeaky chittering and ticking, and loud chuckling in winnowing display flight. Similar species: Peregrine Falcon more heavily built and powerful with large head and bill, full helmet, deep chest, relatively shorter and broader wings and tail, large feet. Grey Falcon paler; lacks dark head markings and rufous underparts; has bright orange-yellow bare parts. Nankeen Kestrel paler, with longer rounded tail, less sharply pointed wings. Collared Sparrowhawk has shorter, broader rounded wings (not reaching tail tip at rest), long legs.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Grey Falcon Falco hypoleucos Handbook p. 158, photo p. 106. 33–43 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 86–97 cm. Male 362–419 g (average 388 g), female 486–624 g (average 559 g). Mediumsized, pale grey falcon with long pointed wings and short tail. Adult has grey upperparts with faint malar stripe and black wing tips. Underparts pale grey with faint streaks. Underwings white with slight black tips; underwings and tail finely barred grey. Cere and eye-ring orange-yellow, eyes brown, feet orange-yellow. Juvenile upperparts darker, with more distinct malar stripe, pale brown fringes to dorsal feathers. Underparts white with finely dark-streaked breast, dark-spotted flanks, variable dark-barred carpal patch on underwings. Cere and eyering pale blue-grey, eyes brown, feet pale yellow. Chick has white down. Solitary falcon, sometimes in pairs or family groups, of shrubland, grassland and wooded watercourses in arid zone; rarely elsewhere. Flight action a kestrel-like winnowing, often leisurely with shallow fluid wing-beats, sometimes with higher beats like fast Brown Falcon. Glides on flat wings; soars with wing tips slightly upswept. At rest sits low on short legs, long wing tips reach, or just exceed, tail tip. Usually silent; calls near nest include hoarse cackling, clucking and whining. Similar species: Elanus kites have black shoulders and underwing markings, white tail, and consistently hover and glide on

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Soaring and gliding

upswept wings. Grey Goshawk has short, broad rounded wings; long legs; heavier flight; glides on bowed wings (for further differences, see p. 42). Pale-backed adult Brown Goshawks and Collared Sparrowhawks have blunt wings, long tail, rufous underparts, long legs. Adult Peregrine Falcon has full black helmet. Pale inland Australian Hobby slimmer with partial helmet (dark cheeks), pale rufous underparts, lacks bright orange-yellow bare parts. Very pale Brown Falcons have browner upperparts; long legs and brown thighs; slower heavier flight; lack bright orange-yellow bare parts. Nankeen Kestrel pale from below and male has grey head, but has narrower wings and longer tail with black subterminal band; often hovers.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Black Falcon Falco subniger Handbook p. 160, photo p. 106. 45–56 cm (tail about half), wingspan 97–115 cm. Male 481–650 g (average 582 g), female 710–950 g (average 833 g). Largest Australian falcon, similar size to Peregrine but longer broader wings and longer tail. Adult variably dark brown to sooty-black, darkest in freshly replaced plumage, with two-toned underwings (flight feathers slightly paler). Inconspicuous dark malar stripe. Variable pale highlights to plumage can be limited or absent: white chin; buff forehead and cheeks; white speckling on breast; spots on underwing coverts; bars on undertail coverts; faint narrow bars on underwings and undertail. Cere and eyering pale grey, eyes brown, feet pale grey. Juvenile usually darker, noticeably so against faded parents; narrowly rufousfringed dorsal feathers, pale tail tip. Pale markings (white chin, buff streaks on forehead, faint barring on flight and tail feathers) variably present. Cere brown (fledglings) to pale blue-grey, eye-ring pale blue (fledglings) to pale blue-grey, eyes brown, feet pale olive-grey (fledglings) to pale blue-grey. Chick has white down. Solitary, active aggressive falcon of open plains and sparse woodland and shrubland, sometimes coastal open areas. Flight action a direct kestrel-like winnowing with short stiff wing-beats, or slower, more fluid and crow-like. Pursuit flight powerful with rapid vigorous wing-beats. Soars and glides on sharply pointed,

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Soaring

Soaring

Gliding

slightly drooped wings with carpals held forwards and straight trailing edges; long square tail usually furled but sometimes fanned to reveal stepped outer edges (outermost feather shorter than next). At rest sits low on short legs, long tail just beyond wing tips. Usually silent; calls near nest include guttural cackle, guttural clucks and slow whining. Similar species: dark Brown Falcon has rowing and often erratic flapping style, raised wings when soaring or gliding, rounded and often fanned tail; when perched has large head, rounded shoulders, pot-bellied profile, long legs with stubby toes. Peregrine Falcon has shorter tail, flat wings in glide. Black Kite has loose plumage, separated primaries, pale upperwing band, forked tail often fanned.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus Handbook p. 162, photos p. 107. 36–50 cm (tail less than half), wingspan 81–106 cm. Male 360–660 g (average 552 g), female 520–992 g (average 823 g). Similar in size to Brown Falcon and Black Falcon, but shorter wings and tail; stockier than other Australian falcons. Compact, heavily built falcon with full black helmet, deep chest, broad-based wings, broad rump and tail. Swift and powerful in flight, appearing dark. Adult has black head and cheeks. Upperparts slaty bluegrey, paler on rump, with black wing tips and finely barred wings and tail. Underparts white (conspicuously so on chest), with grey wash and fine dark bars on abdomen. Female slightly browner than male, with stronger buff on underparts. Some birds paler dorsally and more rufous ventrally, mostly in south-western Australia. Cere and eye-ring bright yellow, eyes brown, feet bright yellow. Juvenile darker and browner; upperparts have brown feather edging; underparts deep buff with black-streaked breast, coarse wavy bars on thighs and flanks. Inland birds paler. Cere and eye-ring pale blue (fledglings) to pale yellow, eyes brown, feet dull yellow. Chick has white down. Solitary aggressive falcon of most habitats, but characteristic of cliffs, escarpments and wetlands. Flight action rapid and powerful with deep rhythmic wingbeats. Glides on flat wings; soars with wings held stiffly out from body, trailing edges straight, pointed tips sometimes slightly upswept. At rest has stocky, heavy66

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Soaring and gliding

shouldered appearance, showing pale bib and large feet. Common call a hoarse screaming cackle; also clucking and whining. Similar species: Australian Hobby smaller and finer, with smaller head and bill, partial helmet, more slender wings and tail, smaller feet, lacks bright yellow bare parts and prominent white breast. Grey Falcon much paler, lacks dark helmet and heavy ventral barring or streaking. Migratory Peregrine subspecies F. p. calidus, from Siberia, may occur as a rare summer visitor anywhere in Australia, though most likely in the north. It is paler than resident Australian Peregrines, with narrow malar stripe and pale hind-cheeks (rather than full black helmet), and is less chunky. Migratory subspecies F. p. japonensis, possible in the north, is rather intermediate, dark but with broad malar stripe and pale hind-cheeks.

SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS

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Vagrants

Since 2012, several vagrant raptor species have been recorded on islands off the Kimberley coast (north-western Australia) or in Torres Strait in Australian territory, or even on the Australian mainland. Australia is so close to Wallacea and New Guinea that further raptor species will inevitably occur on the mainland, especially in the tropics (Kimberley, Top End and North Queensland). Not considered here are external territories (Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands), because those locations hardly count as Australia (being zoogeographically Asia). Long-tailed Buzzard Henicopernis longicauda: a mobile New Guinean species, occurring on some nearshore islands of that region, including Dauan (Australian territory in Torres Strait, just off New Guinea). An unconfirmed report for Cape York Peninsula. (The preferred name in the latest New Guinea checklist is Longtailed Buzzard, because it is no more a Pernis honey-buzzard than is the Squaretailed Kite or Black-breasted Buzzard.) Grey-headed Goshawk Accipiter poliocephalus: a New Guinean species occurring on northern Torres Strait islands, including reportedly Saibai (Australian territory); unconfirmed reports for far northern Queensland. Chinese Sparrowhawk Accipiter soloensis: a migratory Asian hawk that has been

observed on inshore islands off the Kimberley coast, and which therefore could go unobserved or unrecognised in remote northern Australia, given that individuals reach New Guinea. Grey-faced Buzzard Butastur indicus: a migratory Asian species, reaching Wallacea and occasionally southern New Guinea and, reportedly, Boigu Island (Australian territory in northern Torres Strait). Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo: a rare annual migrant to south-western Australia. Given that the area of sightings (Perth) is a populous city, these and possibly other individuals might be occurring in or traversing remote northern and western parts of the continent undetected. This species differs from the Australian Hobby in being pale and heavily streaked ventrally, with rufous thighs and crissum (adults only), a thin pale eyebrow, and in having yellow bare parts (cere, eye-rings). Oriental Hobby Falco severus: a New Guinean and Asian species; at least one reported on Dauan Island, Torres Strait (Australian territory just off New Guinea), where the Australian Hobby also occurs, so the two require careful distinction. The Oriental Hobby is more compact, uniformly darker and unstreaked, and has yellow bare parts (cere, eye-rings); juveniles of the two are more similar.

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Difficult species-pairs

The most common identification problems or errors include: ●●

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Osprey v. immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle ‘red’ raptors mistaken for Red Goshawk (especially Square-tailed Kite, female Swamp Harrier, rufous Brown Falcon) Brown Goshawk v. Collared Sparrowhawk juvenile Spotted Harrier v. adult Swamp Harrier dark Little Eagle often unrecognised dark Brown Falcons v. Black Falcon

●●

grey raptors mistaken for Grey Falcon (especially Grey Goshawk and Blackshouldered Kite, also adult (i.e. greybacked) Brown Goshawk/Collared Sparrowhawk, pale Brown Falcons).

The split images (pp. 72–83) are intended to contrast these difficult speciespairs, and to highlight the key points for distinguishing them. These images are not necessarily exactly to relative size, but are intended to emphasise differences in shape and proportions.

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D I F F I C U LT S P E C I E S - PA I R S

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D I F F I C U LT S P E C I E S - PA I R S

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Osprey

Black-shouldered Kite

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Photo: Mat Gilfedder

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

PHOTOGRAPHS

Black-shouldered Kite, juvenile

Letter-winged Kite

Photo: Ákos Lumnitzer

Photo: Chris Field

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Square-tailed Kite

Black-breasted Buzzard, juvenile

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Photo: Chris Barnes

Photo: Mat Gilfedder

PHOTOGRAPHS

Black-breasted Buzzard

Pacific Baza

Photo: David Stowe, www.davidstowe.com.au

Photo: Ákos Lumnitzer

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Pacific Baza, juvenile

Black Kite

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Photo: Mat Gilfedder

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

PHOTOGRAPHS

Black Kite, juvenile

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Whistling Kite

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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Brahminy Kite

Brahminy Kite, juvenile

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Photo: Chris Field

Photo: Deborah Pearse

PHOTOGRAPHS

Brahminy Kite, immature

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

Photo: Mat Gilfedder

Photo: Ákos Lumnitzer

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White-bellied Sea-Eagle, immature

White-bellied Sea-Eagle, juvenile

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Photo: Chris Field

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

PHOTOGRAPHS

Brown Goshawk

Brown Goshawk, juvenile

Photo: Mat Gilfedder

Photo: David Stowe, www.davidstowe.com.au

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Collared Sparrowhawk

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Collared Sparrowhawk, juvenile

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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PHOTOGRAPHS

Grey Goshawk

Grey Goshawk, juvenile

Photo: Mat Gilfedder

Photo: Chris Field

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Grey Goshawk, white morph

Red Goshawk

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Photo: Bernie McRitchie

Photo: Chris Field

PHOTOGRAPHS

Spotted Harrier

Spotted Harrier, juvenile

Photo: Bernie McRitchie

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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Spotted Harrier, immature

Swamp Harrier, male

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Photo: Chris Barnes

Photo: Ákos Lumnitzer

PHOTOGRAPHS

Swamp Harrier, female

Swamp Harrier, juvenile

Photo: David Stowe, www.davidstowe.com.au

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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Wedge-tailed Eagle

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Wedge-tailed Eagle, juvenile

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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PHOTOGRAPHS

Little Eagle, light

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Little Eagle, dark

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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Little Eagle, juvenile light morph

Nankeen Kestrel, male

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Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Photo: Ákos Lumnitzer

PHOTOGRAPHS

Nankeen Kestrel, female

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Brown Falcon

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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Brown Falcon, pale

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Brown Falcon, juvenile

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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PHOTOGRAPHS

Brown Falcon, dark

Australian Hobby

Photo: Chris Barnes

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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Grey Falcon

Photo: David Stowe, www.davidstowe.com.au

Black Falcon

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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PHOTOGRAPHS

Peregrine Falcon

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

Peregrine Falcon, juvenile

Photo: © David Whelan/wildpix.com.au

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PART II

HANDBOOK

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Osprey, genus Pandion

In the cosmopolitan genus Pandion (the name of two kings of Athens in Greek mythology), there is again now one global species recognised based on new DNA evidence, with the Australasian population (Wallacea to New Caledonia) ‘demoted’ to subspecies rank. The physical differences between the various continental populations are slight. There are some minor behavioural differences: for example, northern hemisphere migratory populations breed near fresh waters (semi-colonially in North America), whereas the Australasian population is resident and breeds near marine waters. The Osprey is a large aquatic hawk, with adaptations for catching fish by plungediving into water. It has dense plumage to avoid wetting; a large oil-gland for waterproofing the plumage while preening; no aftershafts on the feathers of the head and underparts; and powerful feet with rough spicules on the soles, long curved claws, and the ability to swivel the outer toe into a two-by-two arrangement like that of the owls and Elanus kites. It also has flexible joints that enable it to sweep the wings clear of the water and so take off almost vertically. Like the sea-eagles, the Osprey has bare tarsi, but the pattern of scalation is reticulate, not scutellate.

Osprey Pandion haliaetus Field Guide p. 14, photo p. 84.

The specific name (‘sea eagle’) alludes to its aquatic or maritime habit.

Distribution In Australia the Osprey (subspecies cristatus, ‘crested’, referring to the nape) can be found around almost the entire coastline, although it is rare in Victoria and absent from Tasmania. It sometimes occurs far inland, on rivers or lakes, particularly in wet years, and the number of inland sightings, including occasionally of pairs, appears to be increasing.

Food and hunting The Osprey eats mostly fish, occasionally taking crustaceans, reptiles, small mammals and birds. It forages by soaring or quartering and sometimes hovering, or rarely by still-hunting from a perch. It dives headlong into water with the feet thrown forwards, submerging in a plume of spray with the wings raised. If successful, it flies off with a large fish slung torpedo-fashion beneath the body, the forward foot gripping the head and the trailing foot gripping the rear. Occasionally it catches seabirds in flight. The catch is carried to a prominent perch or to the nest, which is used as a feeding platform outside the breeding season.

Behaviour Apart from its fishing behaviour and conspicuous perching on prominent sites, readily observed elements of the Osprey’s 111

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behaviour are its aerial displays. Either alone or in the company of his soaring mate, a male Osprey performs undulating dives with shrill squealing calls. Sometimes, during such manoeuvres, he carries a fish in what is called the fish display. Members of a pair also perform following or pursuit flights on a weaving course. Once settled on a breeding territory, adult Ospreys are sedentary.

Breeding The Osprey lays from March to July in northern Australia, and May to October in southern Australia. The nest is a large bowl or pile of sticks and driftwood up to 2 m across and 2 m deep, lined with vegetation and flotsam, in the exposed top of a dead or partly dead tree, on a cliff or on an artificial structure, from ground level (on rocks or islets in remote areas) to 45 m above the ground. The clutch size is usually three eggs, ranging from two to four. Incubation takes 35−38 days and the nestling period is 71−76 days. Breeding success is 0.9–1.1 young per attempt in New South Wales, and 0.66 young per occupied territory per year and 0.92 young per active nest per year in South Australia. Juveniles remain dependent on their parents for 2 or 3 months after fledging, then some disperse widely (up to 700 km has been recorded), although others remain in the natal territory until the next breeding season, or disperse locally and become breeding adults in their natal area. Females may breed at 2 years old (exceptionally at 1 year old), but males appear not to breed

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until 6 or 7 years old. The oldest banded Ospreys were alive (bands read in the field, by telescope) 22 years after banding.

Threats and conservation The Australasian Osprey population is not globally or nationally threatened. It is generally common and secure in Australia, particularly in the north. It is uncommon in the south, and classified as endangered in South Australia where there were ~60 breeding pairs, since declined to ~40 pairs. Its atlas reporting rate did not change nationally over the two decades to 2000, and increased by 206% in New South Wales; use of the original atlas methods found a doubling of the reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. The New South Wales population of 100 or so pairs, classified as vulnerable, is now recovering and expanding southwards, with some pairs nesting on artificial platforms. Locally, in the south and east, pairs are threatened by disturbance and destruction of breeding habitat and nest sites near coastal developments. Direct persecution, through illegal egg-collecting, shooting and the deliberate destruction of nest sites, seems largely to have abated. The thickness of the Osprey’s eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. Remaining threats include entanglement in discarded fishing gear, electrocution on power poles, recreational disturbance to cliff and island nests, environmental pollutants (pesticides, heavy metals) in the food chain, and effluent and stormwater runoff affecting water quality and clarity.

Small kites, genus Elanus

The ‘white-tailed’ kites in the genus Elanus (‘kite’) are small, gull-like, grey-and-white hawks with black forewing patches and varying amounts of black on the underwings. They have long pointed wings, hover frequently and prey mainly on rodents, which they often swallow whole. They have short legs, stout zygodactylous feet and a reticulate pattern of tarsal scalation. They also have some convergent owl-like adaptations, consistent with crepuscular and nocturnal hunting, including silenced flight, large frontally placed eyes and, in the Letter-winged Kite, asymmetrical ear openings. Genetically, they are at the base of the hawk family tree. Of the two Australian species, the Black-shouldered Kite most closely resembles others in the genus, particularly the White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) of the Americas rather than the geographically closer Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus), which occurs in Africa and Eurasia through to New Guinea. The African elanine genus Chelictinia is similar, although more fork-tailed, aerial and insectivorous. Because the South American genus Gampsonyx is also elanine, there is an obvious Gondwanan pattern to the group’s distribution, diversity, endemism and probable origin. The endemic Letter-winged Kite is unique among raptors in being largely nocturnal, and has the most distinctive plumage of the genus. As a group, the Elanus kites seem geared to a ‘boom and bust’ strategy, with a high reproductive output and extreme mobility enabling

them to find concentrations of prey and rapidly build up local populations. In lean times, their populations disperse and many birds perish.

Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris Field Guide p. 16, photos pp. 84–85. The specific name, part of a direct quote from the original description in Latin, refers to the black markings on the wings.

Distribution The endemic Black-shouldered Kite occurs throughout Australia, least commonly in the arid zone and in Tasmania.

Food and hunting The Black-shouldered Kite mostly eats small rodents. Occasionally it takes small birds, lizards and insects. It is diurnal and crepuscular, and occasionally nocturnal on moonlit nights. It forages by quartering and hovering, sometimes by still-hunting

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size is usually three or four eggs, ranging from two to five. Incubation takes ~31 days and the nestling period is 33−38 days. Juveniles remain dependent on their parents for about a month, then disperse widely (up to 1000 km has been recorded). They might breed when a year old.

Threats and conservation

Aerial transfer of food

from a perch, then dropping onto prey on the ground.

Behaviour The Black-shouldered Kite’s most readily observed behaviours are its hovering and its conspicuous perching on utility poles and wires and on the topmost branches of live or dead trees. It roosts communally. Individuals harass larger raptors aggressively. Members of a pair engage in aerial chases and the flutter-flight display, with aerial food-passes by the male to the female. Occasional talon-grappling occurs, either between rivals or in courtship.

Breeding The laying season varies. It extends throughout most of the year, but has peaks in autumn and spring. Some pairs have two broods per year. Pairs nest solitarily, or in loose colonies when prey is abundant. The nest is a platform of sticks 27−45 cm across and 13−15 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 4−35 m above the ground in the canopy of a live tree or, rarely, on an artificial structure. The clutch 114

The Black-shouldered Kite is not nationally threatened. It is widespread and common over much of its range, and has increased in range and numbers in cleared and farmed areas of southern Australia in response to creation of suitable habitat and introduction of suitable prey (the House Mouse, Mus musculus). Its atlas reporting rate did not change nationally or in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, even though this Kite was less likely to be recorded by the new atlas methods; use of the original atlas methods found a fluctuating, but overall fairly stable, reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly affected by DDT use in Australia. Locally, secondary poisoning might occur when rodenticides are used during mouse plagues or pesticides are used during locust plagues.

Letter-winged Kite Elanus scriptus Field Guide p. 18, photo p. 85. The specific name (‘written’) refers to the black M marking across the underwings.

Distribution The Letter-winged Kite normally lives in the eastern interior of Australia, with its

Small ki t e s

distribution centred on the Barkly Tableland and Channel Country. Following occasional wet seasons and a return to normally dry conditions, Kites irrupt into atypical habitats and localities, including open areas on the coast and even offshore islands. Some extralimital breeding occurs during rat and mouse plagues, in habitats structurally resembling its normal habitat.

Food and hunting The Letter-winged Kite eats mostly rodents, especially the native Long-haired or Plague Rat (Rattus villosissimus) during plagues; it also takes other small mammals, reptiles and insects. It eats some mammal carrion during lean times. It is normally nocturnal, like its main prey. It forages by quartering and hovering, then dropping onto prey on the ground. During irruptions, starving birds out of their normal range still-hunt from low perches.

Behaviour The Letter-winged Kite usually roosts communally by day in well-foliaged trees, sometimes roosting along rather than across branches. During periodic irruptions towards the coast, when Kites are starving, they show aberrant hunting and roosting behaviour such as diurnal activity and roosting on the ground. Breeding colonies are usually silent and inactive by day, with sentinels perching quietly above nests, although in the courtship phase members of a pair perch conspicuously above nests, call and perform soaring displays in daytime. If disturbed, Kites soar high over the site and give alarm calls. Members of a pair engage in the diurnal flutter-flight display, circling high with wings held in a tight V. Food-passes from

male to female are often performed in flight.

Breeding The laying season is irregular. It is continuous (mostly autumn to spring) during times of abundant prey following rains, but there is little breeding in years between plagues of rats. Pairs breed in loose colonies, or occasionally solitarily. The nest is a platform of twigs and herbage 28−51 cm across and 20−34 cm deep, lined with green leaves or cattle dung and placed 2−14 m above the ground in the canopy of a live tree. The clutch size is usually four or five eggs, ranging from three to six. Incubation probably takes ~31 days and the nestling period is 30−35 days. During plagues of rats, clutches and broods are large and new clutches can be laid while fledglings are still on the previous nests. The period of dependence after fledging is apparently short. Kites mature rapidly and may be able to breed within their first year if favourable conditions persist, leading to rapid growth of breeding colonies. When conditions deteriorate, young disperse widely from breeding colonies in the Cooper Creek drainage system to all Australian coasts. Most involved in such irruptions are first-year or second-year birds, which die. Repopulation of the normal range is probably by a small nucleus of surviving adults.

Threats and conservation The Letter-winged Kite is now recognised as nationally near threatened, with a fluctuating global population of perhaps 1000 birds at its low point, and a long-term decline in New South Wales superimposed on its historical ‘boom–bust’ pattern. It is 115

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generally uncommon to rare, and there is now concern that is no longer responding well to ‘boom’ times in the inland. Its core range and population are small and subject to habitat degradation by overgrazing, which exacerbates the effects of regular droughts (the frequency, severity and duration of which may be increasing under

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climate change). Breeding colonies are also threatened by the increase in numbers of feral cats, which occupy nests and are suspected of eating the young Kites, as well as competing seriously for native rodent prey. Rodenticides might cause secondary poisoning during mouse plagues, when these Kites invade agricultural areas.

Pernine kites

On DNA grounds, the pernines now include: the Square-tailed Kite (Lophoictinia, seemingly an oversized baza) and Black-breasted Buzzard (Hamirostra) of Australia; the long-tailed buzzards (Henicopernis, closely resembling Lophoictinia) of New Guinea; the bazas (Aviceda, AfroAsia to Australia); honey-buzzards (Pernis, Eurasia and Africa); and certain South American kites (Elanoides, Leptodon and Chondroheirax, the last like a large-billed baza). This group is evidently Gondwanan. Features in common among the group include seemingly primitive (ancestral) characteristics and mostly insectivorous or weakly predatory habits. The pernines are related to an African cluster (gypaetines) that includes the nest-robbing harrierhawks (Polyboroides) and tool-using Egyptian Vulture (Neophron). Two Australian members of this group (Lophoictinia and Hamirostra, respectively neither a milvine kite nor a buteonine buzzard) have much rufous in the plumage, especially in juveniles, a slight occipital crest and strongly patterned underwings. Both are highly aerial, searching persistently for birds’ nests, and Hamirostra uses tools to break large eggs. In their own endemic monotypic genera (as confirmed by DNA evidence), they are characterised by a slender bill, bulbous cere, absent or slight bony brow-ridge, long wings, and small to robust feet with bare tarsi having reticulate scaling. They have hoarse yelping voices.

Aviceda (‘bird killer’) is a misnomer, as is ‘baza’, derived from a Hindi word for goshawk. Bazas are medium-sized, longwinged hawks lacking the bony browridges, and hence the fierce expression, of most other raptors. They have a crest on the nape, small weak feet, boldly patterned or barred plumage, and specialised bills with a double tomial tooth on each side of the upper mandible. The tarsus is short, with scutellate scaling in front and reticulate behind. The large bulging eyes, giving a wide field of view, enable them to detect well-camouflaged prey among foliage, and the dense facial feathering offers some protection against dangerous insects. The toothed bill might help to dismember insects and is used to bite through the skulls of reptiles and amphibians. The honey-buzzards (Pernis) are rather like large bazas, variably crested (or not), with small bill and feet and strongly barred plumage. Most species are polymorphic. They have dense scale-like feathers on their faces for protection against stinging insects, and slit-like nostrils (as do Lophoictinia, Hamirostra, Aviceda and Henicopernis). They rob the nests of bees and wasps for the larvae. The migratory form occasionally reaching Australia might deserve species rank as the Eastern Honey-buzzard, Pernis orientalis, distinct from the resident Indomalayan (Crested) Honey-buzzard, P. ptilorhynchus.

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Square-tailed Kite Lophoictinia isura

Distribution

The generic name (‘crest kite’) refers to the slight occipital crest and the specific name (‘equal tail’) refers to the square-cut tail tip.

The endemic Square-tailed Kite is found over most of the Australian mainland and some larger offshore islands. It avoids the most arid, treeless central regions, where it is very scarce or absent. In the far south-east it is seen mostly in spring and summer, and in the far north mostly in the dry season.

Characteristics

Food and hunting

The Square-tailed Kite a slender, very longwinged soaring hawk, in structure and character like the Pacific Baza (barred primaries, flight action) and the harriers (low sailing flight on raised wings) and Blackbreasted Buzzard. It is distinctive in flight, showing a white cap (in adults), wings broadest near the tips, and a long square or notched sharp-cornered tail, which is twisted and fanned when soaring into the wind. It is buoyant and agile in flight, sailing and circling low over or through the treetops, jinking sideways between the crowns of trees, with a slight raising and lowering of the dihedral angle; it dips with a steep dihedral to snatch prey from foliage. It seldom flaps; its flight action is loose and shallow or deeper with fluid rowing wing-beats. Its gliding flight is more stable and eagle-like than that of the typical kites, sometimes with a sideways rocking motion like that of the Black-breasted Buzzard. At rest, the crossed primary tips can create the illusion of a forked tail. It seldom lands on the ground, and then usually alights briefly. In flight, it shows ‘six-fingered’ wings (compare harriers) and its small feet fall short of the tips of the undertail coverts (compare Red Goshawk). Calls near the nest include shrill repeated squealing and a rapid chitter or rattle.

The Square-tailed Kite mostly eats bird eggs and nestlings but it also eats adult birds, often honeyeaters and other passerines that build nests in foliage. It also eats insects, reptiles, tree-frogs and, rarely, small mammals and snails. It does not feed on carrion. Foraging is solitary and mostly aerial by means of low slow quartering of the tree and shrub canopy; it also hawks flying insects. From low sailing flight, it drops suddenly to snatch prey from foliage or seize prey startled into flight. It also reaches into, tears apart or removes birds’ nests in trees or shrubs, and removes nests of paperwasps in order to extract the larvae.

Field Guide p. 20, photo p. 86.

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Behaviour The Square-tailed Kite’s most characteristic behaviour is its thorough searching of the vegetation canopy from low sailing flight, often in long transects or wide meandering arcs. Its gracefulness and agility in the air or among the treetops are noteworthy. At rest or in low overhead flight it is remarkably confiding and approachable, almost lethargic. In the breeding season, solitary birds perform an aerial undulating display; members of a pair perform languid following, chasing or mock attack-and-parry manoeuvres, with dodging and rolling. Another aerial display

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is high soaring over the nest area with shallow quivering wing-beats and squealing calls. The species is evidently a long-distance migrant; southerly breeding birds or their offspring move north to winter in the tropics and returning the following spring.

Breeding The laying season is from July to December. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks 50−85 cm across, 25−60 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 7−36 m above ground in the fork of a living tree within forest or woodland. The clutch size is two or three eggs, usually three. Incubation takes 39–41 days and the nestling period is 52−60 days. Broods of one or two (or rarely three) young fledge; breeding success in New South Wales is 0.7–0.8 young per attempt, and in Victoria 1.6 young per attempt. The period of dependence after fledging lasts 6 weeks to 2 months.

Threats and conservation The Square-tailed Kite is not nationally threatened, although it is classified as endangered in South Australia and as vulnerable in New South Wales and Victoria. This highly specialised raptor is uncommon, subject to habitat clearance and formerly to illegal egg-collecting in its southern and eastern breeding range. It has a relatively low breeding density and recruitment rate. The population is estimated at 20−50 pairs in Victoria and fewer than 10 birds in South Australia, where there were few successful breeding records until recent years; its national population was estimated as 3500 breeding pairs. It is adapting to the well-vegetated outer fringes of coastal and near-coastal cities in

eastern Australia, where it feeds on the abundant introduced and native passerines, and its population is increasing on the eastern coast, in Victoria, and perhaps in South Australia. Its atlas reporting rate did not change nationally, and increased by 41% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000 (a non-significant difference, owing to small sample size). A larger sample size, using the original atlas methods, found a doubling of its reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use.

Black-breasted Buzzard Hamirostra melanosternon Field Guide p. 22, photos pp. 86–87. The generic name (‘hook bill’) refers to the prominent upper mandible and the specific name (‘black breast’) describes one of the bird’s most characteristic features in adulthood.

Characteristics The Black-breasted Buzzard is a large soaring hawk with white panels in upswept wings, and a conspicuously short square tail. In structure and character (large wings, remarkable buoyancy) it resembles the Wedge-tailed Eagle and Square-tailed Kite. In flight, the wings show a rather even width and modified dihedral, with the primaries somewhat swept back. Its active flight is a powerful rowing action or (in pursuit) more rapid, shallow wingbeats. Its gliding flight is stable and eaglelike, with raising and lowering of the dihedral angle. It gathers in small numbers 119

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Shading nestlings

Using stone to break egg

ing transects at moderate height, and by low slow quartering or high soaring. It swoops to snatch prey from trees or seize it on the ground. It sometimes walks on the ground, searching for prey. The Buzzard will also break eggs of large ground-nesting birds with blows of its bill, or use its bill to hurl stones at the eggs from a standing position on the ground.

Behaviour at carrion or the eggs of large groundnesting birds.

Distribution The endemic Black-breasted Buzzard is found over most of the Australian mainland except the temperate high-rainfall regions of the south and east.

Food and hunting The Black-breasted Buzzard eats mammals, birds and their eggs, reptiles, carrion and, occasionally, large insects; it particularly preys on young rabbits, bird nestlings (including other raptors) and eggs, and large lizards. It forages by flying fast glid120

The Black-breasted Buzzard’s most characteristic behaviour is its effortless soaring and sailing flight across inland skies, in long transects or wide sweeping arcs, rather than the tight spiralling of most other raptors. In the breeding season, members of a pair soar over their nesting territory for hours and occasionally perform an undulating display or mock attacks with rolling and parrying. The male may drop nesting material to the female in flight, or conspicuously carry and pick at offered prey. The Buzzard is notable for its stone-throwing behaviour, being one of only two raptors (and very few other birds) that regularly use tools to assist in their feeding.

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Breeding The laying season is from June to November, usually August to October. Pairs nest solitarily. This species is usually monogamous, but there is one record of a polyandrous trio persisting for 4 years. The nest is a large flat platform of sticks 70−120 cm across, 40−80 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 6−22 m above ground in the fork of a living or dead tree. The clutch size is usually two eggs, less often one, rarely three. Incubation takes 35–38 days and the nestling period is 68–71 days. Brood size at fledging is usually only one, occasionally two. Breeding success has been measured as 0.25–1.5 young per active nest per year in the arid zone, according to seasonal conditions and the abundance of rabbits. The period of dependence after fledging lasts from 2 to 5 months. Sexual maturity is attained at 2 years or older; Buzzards occasionally breed in immature (2nd- or 3rd-year) plumage.

Threats and conservation The Black-breasted Buzzard is not nationally threatened, although it is classified as vulnerable in New South Wales and as rare in South Australia. Its atlas reporting rate declined by 25% nationally, mainly in southern and eastern Australia, over the two decades to 2000. In New South Wales its reporting rate declined by 50% over the two decades to 2006, with a long-term contraction inland of its breeding range. It is fairly common and perhaps increasing in the tropical north and arid north-west, but its populations have declined in the southeast of its range as a result of clearance and degradation of habitat, the decline or

extinction of the native mammals on which it fed, and the poisoning of carcasses. However, it might have benefited from the introduction of rabbits and the abundance of stock and kangaroo carrion. It has a low breeding density and recruitment rate and is sensitive to human activity near its nest. It is sometimes killed when scavenging on roads, and it was subject to illegal egg-collecting. Ongoing clearing and land degradation in the semiarid and tropical rangelands may be a threat. In the arid zone, hot summer wildfires fuelled by introduced, invasive Buffel Grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), which burns fiercely, destroy the Buzzard’s nest trees, nests and their contents. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly affected by DDT use in Australia. Lead poisoning from ammunition fragments in carcasses is emerging as a threat for habitual scavengers such as this Buzzard.

Pacific Baza (Crested Hawk) Aviceda subcristata Field Guide p. 24, photos pp. 87–88. The specific name (‘somewhat crested’) refers to the small erectile crest on the nape, which enhances a cockatoo-like aspect as the bird jumps or clambers among tree branches.

Characteristics The Pacific Baza’s flight is buoyant and graceful on broad rounded wings, making the bird look larger than it really is. In flight the head and neck appear somewhat pigeon-like; the carpals are held forwards, so that the leading and trailing edges to the 121

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Distribution In Australia the Pacific Baza occurs in a coastal band from the Kimberley in northern Western Australia to the south coast of New South Wales, and it is becoming more common around Sydney. It is largely restricted to within ~400 km of the coast, in the east occurring inland to the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range and adjoining plains, though occasionally occurring even farther inland. It also occurs from Wallacea through New Guinea to the Solomon Islands. Sun-basking

Food and hunting

wings are curved; the wings are broadest at the tips and narrowest near the body, and the primaries are widely splayed. The tail is long and square at the tip. Non-breeding birds are often in groups. The undulating display flight is distinctive: the bird climbs with deep laboured wing-beats then drops with the wings held in a steep V, like a pigeon, while giving its two-note call.

The Pacific Baza is omnivorous, eating mainly foliage insects and tree-frogs, but also snakes, lizards, small birds and nestlings, and small fruits such as figs. It forages by low quartering over the tree canopy or by still-hunting within the canopy, inspecting the foliage. Sometimes it clambers acrobatically among branches, hanging with flailing wings. It also glides or drops to snatch prey from the foliage. It is

Aerial undulating display

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said to find tree-frogs by imitating their calls and so inducing them to call back, but this perhaps fanciful suggestion requires confirmation. It was not reported by two recent detailed observational studies, and might instead represent misinterpretation of the Baza’s resonant ‘ticking’ or ‘tok’ vocalisations frequently used in intraspecific communication.

Behaviour The Pacific Baza is an unobtrusive and docile hawk, usually obvious only during its vocal aerial displays. Patient watching and listening in likely habitat will usually be rewarded by the sight of a bird moving within or between tree crowns, the patter of falling insect fragments or the calls of a soaring bird. In the breeding season, pairs perform undulating displays and mutual soaring with much calling, they allopreen and the male feeds the female at the nest. Variants of aerobatic displays include somersaulting at the apex of undulations, lateral rolls, sideslipping and pursuit flights through the tree canopy. The Baza sometimes perches in the sun, basking with its wings open.

Breeding The laying season is from September to February in Australia. Pairs breed solitarily. The nest is a small platform of twigs 25−40 cm across and 12−15 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed within the tree canopy 6−35 m above the ground. The clutch size is usually two or three eggs, occasionally four. Incubation takes 29–33 days and the nestling period is 32−37 days. Breeding success for one pair in tropical

Queensland was 1.67 young fledged per attempt and 2.5 fledged per year over 10 years, and for several pairs in subtropical New South Wales was 1.8–2.26 young fledged per attempt. The period of postfledging dependence lasts 4 weeks; some family groups persist almost to the next breeding season. In other cases, juveniles seem to be attracted quickly to post-breeding flocks that, in south-eastern parts of the Baza’s Australian range, migrate either to the lowlands or northwards for the winter before returning in spring. Some individuals migrate between Australia and New Guinea.

Threats and conservation The Pacific Baza is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common in the tropics and uncommon at the extremities of its Australian range, although it is increasing and expanding southwards in New South Wales. Its atlas reporting rate increased by 39% nationally over the two decades to 2000 (although it was more likely to be recorded by the changed atlas methods) and by 58% in New South Wales (a non-significant change, owing to small sample size). A larger sample size, using the original atlas methods, found a slight increase in its reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. It probably benefits from fragmentation of continuous forest, as it prefers edges, although it is absent from extensively cleared areas. It is possibly affected by pollutants such as lead in heavily urbanised areas. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly affected by DDT use in Australia.

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Large kites and sea-eagles

The typical or milvine kites (genera Milvus and Haliastur) and the sea- and fish-eagles (genus Haliaeetus) form a closely related and discrete group, united by the possession of a fused second joint of the inner toe. These relationships have been confirmed by DNA evidence, including the distinctness of Milvus from Haliastur. However, there are two genetic groups of sea-eagles: an arctic/northern one (large, mostly brown species) and an Old World tropical/southern one (smaller ‘pied’ species, among which the Asian fish-eagles ‘Ichthyophaga’ belong within Haliaeetus). The southern group might warrant generic separation from the northern group. The kites are characterised by easy, lazy soaring flight with tilting and twisting of the tail, small feet, and scavenging and piratical ways of life. The sea-eagles are larger, more predatory and more strictly aquatic, with larger feet and shorter tails. Although well within, and in some cases exceeding, the size range of the true (‘booted’) eagles, the sea-eagles are readily distinguished by their bare tarsi. The Australian species in the group are the Black Kite (also of Eurasia and Africa), the near-endemic Whistling Kite, the Brahminy Kite and the White-bellied Sea-Eagle, the last two of which extend to South-East Asia. On DNA grounds, the Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius) of Africa is a separate species from the Black Kite, and the Black-eared Kite (M. lineatus) of East Asia is also regarded as separate. This split leaves 124

the geographically and physically anomalous Australian form, which is least like the European Black Kite and genetically basal in the Milvus tree; it probably should be recognised as a full species, Milvus affinis, but this suggestion awaits publication of further DNA work currently in progress. Sanford’s Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus sanfordi, Solomon Islands) is so close genetically to the White-bellied Sea-Eagle that it has been considered only a subspecies, because adult Sanford’s has a ‘juvenile’ type plumage, but the current consensus is that it is a full species. An extinct species formerly inhabiting some South Pacific islands might have been most closely related to the huge Steller’s Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) of the Siberian coast. Species in the group are often vocal, with loud and distinctive calls and, in the sea-eagles, characteristic duetting by mated pairs. This group, more than any other, is traditionally credited with spectacular whirling or cartwheeling courtship displays in which two birds fall through the air with locked claws. However, a recent survey has shown that most talongrappling and cartwheeling by raptors (including sea-eagles) is fighting. Steller’s Sea-Eagle shares the title of world’s largest eagle with the massive Harpy Eagle (Harpia) of South America. Another sea-eagle (White-tailed, Haliaeetus albicilla, of northern Eurasia) is beaten into second place by the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga).

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Black (Fork-tailed) Kite Milvus migrans Field Guide p. 28, photos pp. 88–89. The generic name simply means ‘kite’ (in the raptorial sense) and the specific name refers to its spectacular mass migrations in Europe. The genus is characterised by long forked tails and by short tarsi having a scutellate pattern of scalation in front and reticulate behind.

Characteristics The Black Kite is usually seen in slow circling flight, often in a head-down, hunched posture with the carpals held forwards, although the attitude of wings and body is constantly changing. It is highly manoeuv­ rable, side-slipping to snatch food from ground or water. Low pursuit flight, such as in territorial conflicts, with short fast wing-beats and pointed back-swept wings, is reminiscent of a Brown Falcon.

Distribution The Black Kite occurs mostly in northern and inland Australia, sporadically and sparsely in the south; it occasionally irrupts in areas outside its normal range. It also occurs from most of the Old World to Indonesia and New Guinea although, with the recent splitting of the African and East Asian forms as full species, the Australasian form might warrant species rank too.

Food and hunting The Black Kite eats a variety of small animals and carrion: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates, road-killed vertebrates, large carcasses and

offal. Human food scraps are scavenged from campgrounds, picnic areas, sports events and schoolyards. This Kite forages by high soaring and quartering; it drops on prey, hawks flying insects, snatches prey from water surfaces and sometimes baits fish. It patrols roads and fire fronts, robs other raptors and follows herds of stock or farm machinery for flushed prey, and is credited with deliberately spreading tropical grassfires by carrying burning embers and dropping them in unburnt areas. Small food items are eaten on the wing.

Behaviour The Black Kite’s most characteristic behaviour is its effortless circling in inland or tropical skies, in flocks sometimes numbering hundreds or even thousands. It can ascend beyond the range of human vision and suddenly appear overhead, having descended from invisible heights. Also characteristic is its association with human refuse and domestic animals. It has learnt to deal with road-killed cane toads by turning them over and opening the belly, thus avoiding the dorsal poison glands. Individuals sunbathe and dustbathe communally on the ground and roost communally in trees. Courtship displays consist of spiralling and leisurely pursuit or tandem soaring, followed by the pair descending to the nest and calling from it, where they sometimes allopreen.

Breeding Laying occurs in all months in northern Australia and July to November (rarely autumn) in the south. Pairs are solitary or loosely colonial. The nest is a platform of sticks 50−75 cm across, 60 cm deep, lined 125

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with dry vegetation, wool, fur, dung or rubbish and placed within the tree canopy 2−30 m above the ground. The clutch size ranges from one to four eggs, usually two in poor seasons and three or four in good seasons. Incubation takes ~31 days and the nestling period is 37−44 days. Success has been measured as 82% hatching success and 64% fledging success, and as 1.5 young fledged per clutch and 0.9 fledged per territorial pair. In the arid zone, the number of nesting pairs and their breeding productivity declined (from 1.25–1.5 young to 1.0 young per active nest) after the calicivirus greatly reduced the rabbit population. The post-fledging dependence period possibly lasts about 2 months. Other aspects of the breeding cycle are poorly known in Australia, although well studied elsewhere.

nition fragments in carcasses is emerging as a threat for habitual scavengers such as this Kite.

Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus Field Guide p. 30, photo p. 89. The generic name (‘sea goshawk’) alludes to these kites’ aquatic, often coastal, habits and the specific name (‘wedge tail’, a slight misnomer) refers to the rounded tail tip. The genus is characterised by short legs with bare tarsi having the scutellate pattern of scalation in front and reticulate behind, and sharp spicules on the pads under the toes (more developed in the Brahminy Kite).

Threats and conservation

Distribution

The Black Kite is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common to abundant in Australia and is most numerous in areas of human influence. It is very scarce in the far south and scarce away from human activity in the arid zone. It has probably increased in range and numbers since European occupation. Its atlas reporting rate declined by 27% nationally over the two decades to 2000, although not changing significantly in New South Wales. Use of the original atlas methods found an approximate halving of its reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, probably droughtrelated and from which it has since partly recovered. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. Lead poisoning from ammu-

The Whistling Kite occurs throughout Australia, although rarely in Tasmania. It also occurs in New Guinea and New Caledonia.

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Food and hunting The Whistling Kite eats a variety of small animals and carrion: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, insects (including wasp larvae), road-killed vertebrates, large carcasses and offal. It forages by

Defending food by mantling

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quartering or high soaring and by waiting in trees beside water, especially at drying pools in creeks; it drops on prey, hawks flying insects and snatches prey from water surfaces. It patrols roads (especially early in the morning) and fire fronts, robs other raptors, and is credited with deliberately spreading tropical grassfires by carrying burning embers and dropping them in unburnt areas. It is rather more robust and predatory than the Black Kite.

Behaviour The Whistling Kite’s most characteristic behaviour is its lazy soaring, often accompanied by loud whistling calls. Individuals or pairs also call vigorously from prominent perches or the nest, in an upright posture with the head raised and bill tilted skywards. Aerial displays consist of mutual soaring, aerobatics and mock attack-andparry, with calling, and sometimes with one bird carrying food or nesting material. Allopreening and presentation of food or nest material occur at the nest.

Breeding The laying season is long and variable: most of the dry season (austral autumn to spring) in the tropics and usually late winter and spring, although also in autumn, in the south. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a bowl of sticks 60−150 cm across, 30−100 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 3−62 m above the ground in the fork of a live or dead tree. The clutch size is usually two eggs, but ranges from one to four. Incubation takes ~35 days and the nestling period is 44−54 days. Success has been variously meas-

ured as: 60% hatching success and 1.0 young raised per nest; 1.5 young per clutch started and 1.3 young fledged per pair per year; and 96% fledging success in nests with young. In the arid zone, the number of pairs and their breeding productivity appeared to decline (from 1.78– 2.25 young to 1.3 young per active nest) after the calicivirus greatly reduced the rabbit population. The post-fledging dependence period lasts up to 2 months, after which birds disperse, some more than 2000 km.

Threats and conservation The Whistling Kite is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common to abundant on coasts and in the tropics, where it benefits from human activity. It is scarce away from water in inland Australia, and in the arid zone is largely restricted to sites with water. It is declining locally in southern Australia through drainage of wetlands and reduction in its food supply. Its atlas reporting rate declined by 16% nationally over the two decades to 2000, although not changing significantly in New South Wales; use of the original atlas methods found a slight decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, reflected also in declines at a local level. The thickness of its eggshells was reduced by DDT use in agricultural areas of southern Australia. Some birds, because of their scavenging habits, are poisoned by agricultural chemicals or baited carcasses. Lead poisoning from ammunition fragments in carcasses is emerging as a threat for habitual scavengers such as this Kite.

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Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus Field Guide p. 32, photos pp. 90–91. The scientific name denotes a ‘sea goshawk’ from India, whence it was first described. The generic characters are as for the Whistling Kite, but the Brahminy Kite has more prominent spicules on the undersides of the feet.

Distribution The Brahminy Kite occurs around the northern Australian coast from about Shark Bay in the west to the Hunter River in the east, with occasional vagrants farther south. It also occurs from India and South-East Asia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Food and hunting The Brahminy Kite eats a variety of small animals and carrion: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods, crustaceans, shellfish, cuttlefish, road-killed vertebrates, large carcasses and offal. It forages by quartering and high soaring or by still-hunting from a prominent perch, and it sometimes searches on the ground. It seizes prey in a glide or dive that might become a short chase, hawks flying insects, snatches prey from the tree canopy and water surfaces, and robs other predators. It characteristically patrols water or the water’s edge and scoops food from the surface without submerging, and eats some prey in flight.

Behaviour The Brahminy Kite is a conspicuous inhabitant of coastal areas including towns, where it can be seen soaring in the sea breeze, gliding along the shoreline or 128

scavenging around beaches and jetties. In display, males soar high over their territories, kiting or side-slipping across the wind, and perform long dives to spiral up again and repeat the process or glide to a lookout perch, or they display their agility with loops, twists, stoops and stalls. Members of a courting pair circle together with calling, and sometimes perform long aerobatic dives interspersed with spiralling to regain height, and the male presents nesting material to the female at the nest. They also perch prominently and call.

Breeding Laying takes place in the dry season in the tropics and late winter to spring in the subtropics. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks and other flotsam 40−100 cm across, up to 30 cm deep, lined with leaves and other soft material including human rubbish and placed 2−30 m above the ground in a tree or artificial structure. The clutch size is usually one or two eggs, ranging from one to four. Incubation takes ~35 days and the nestling period is 47−56 days. Broods of one or two young, or occasionally three, fledge. Breeding success for two pairs in coastal New South Wales was 0.5 young fledged per attempt and 0.67 per year, and 0.5 young per attempt, respectively; and 0.86 fledged per active nest in the Northern Territory. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 2 months, with young lingering near the nest for up to 80 days.

Threats and conservation The Brahminy Kite is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common to abundant and widespread in the tropics, where it ben-

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efits from extra food provided by humans in the form of carrion and refuse. Its range has contracted northwards in eastern Australia, where the thickness of its eggshells was reduced by DDT use and its population is affected by habitat disturbance. However, its atlas reporting rate did not change nationally over the two decades to 2000 and increased by 58% in New South Wales (a non-significant change, owing to small sample size), even though this Kite was less likely to be recorded by the new atlas methods. A larger sample size, using the original atlas methods, found an almost doubling of its reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. These results suggest a partial recovery in the south-east of its range, confirmed by recent breeding records south to Port Stephens and sightings within its historic range near Sydney. Nevertheless, potential threats include human disturbance to nest sites, removal of urban nest trees, and entanglement in or ingestion of lost or discarded fishing tackle.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster Field Guide p. 34, photos pp. 91–92. The common name is a literal translation of the generic name (‘sea-eagle’) and specific name (‘white belly’). The genus is characterised by powerful feet with bare tarsi having the scutellate pattern of scalation in front, reticulate behind, and rough spiny soles.

Distribution The White-bellied Sea-Eagle occurs around the entire Australian and Tasma-

Foraging – taking fish off water surface

nian coastline and extends well inland along rivers and around lakes and reservoirs. It also occurs from India and SouthEast Asia to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago. The form in the Solomon Islands (Sanford’s Sea-Eagle) is again recognised as separate species, H. sanfordi.

Food and hunting The White-bellied Sea-Eagle eats mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, carrion and beach-cast offal and other scraps. Live prey includes fruit-bats, seabirds to gull, cormorant and gannet size, spiny or poisonous fish, sea-snakes, freshwater turtles and (rarely) rabbits and hares. It forages by quartering, high soaring or still-hunting from a perch. It attacks in a shallow glide or dive to snatch prey from the ground or water surface, it harries aquatic birds to exhaustion, snatches fruit-bats from their tree roosts, robs other predators and attends foraging dolphins. It scoops food from the water surface without submerging.

Behaviour The White-bellied Sea-Eagle is a conspicuous and imposing sight around coasts and waterways, where it is commonly seen soaring gracefully or resting on a prominent 129

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perch. In the breeding season members of a pair engage in much mutual soaring, synchronised tandem flying and mock attackand-parry, with duet-calling in flight or on perches. Duetting and copulation by resident pairs also occur outside the breeding season. The adults aggressively defend nestlings against intruders, including humans at times.

Breeding The laying season is May to August in northern Australia and June to September, exceptionally to November, in the south. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a pile of sticks 120−170 cm across, 50−180 cm deep, lined with leaves, grass and seaweed and placed on the ground or a cliff on offshore islands, otherwise 3−40 m above the ground in a tree. The clutch size is usually two eggs, ranging from one to three. Incubation takes 40–42 days and the nestling period is 80−88 days. Success has been measured as 1.3 young fledged per successful nest, 1.1 per active nest and 0.8 per occupied territory per year; 34% of successful nests raised two fledglings, 66% raised one. Productivity was 0.35–0.6 young per pair per year in tropical Australia, depending on territory quality, and was better in territories and years without feral Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) than with (all pairs attempting to breed and 83% fledging young, versus 63% attempting to breed and 46% fledging young). In South Australia, productivity was 0.5 young per territory per year in highly disturbed areas and 1.1 per territory per year in protected or remote areas, and in New South Wales disturbed nests had low productivity (0.33–0.67 young per pair per 130

year) and were ultimately abandoned. The period of dependence after fledging lasts 2–3 months, and young may linger in the natal territory for 5–6 months. Young leave their natal territory 4–6 months after fledging and disperse up to 3000 km. In captivity, age at first breeding is 7 years and in the wild it is not before acquisition of adult plumage (at about 5 years); individuals occasionally pair up or commence breeding with traces of immature plumage remaining. Longevity in the wild is up to at least 19 years.

Threats and conservation The White-bellied Sea-Eagle is not globally or nationally threatened, although it is listed as endangered in South Australia and as vulnerable in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. It is also protected on the federal ‘Marine’ schedule. Populations have been estimated as 70–80 breeding pairs in South Australia, 100 pairs in Victoria and 800 pairs in New South Wales. Its atlas reporting rate increased by 35% nationally and by 69% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, but its reporting rate was affected in some regions by the changed atlas methods. Part of the apparent increase might be related to the Sea-Eagle’s greater visibility inland during the wet second atlas period. Use of the original atlas methods found a slight increase in reporting rate in New South Wales, probably related to movement coastwards during inland drought, though with a 25% decline on the north coast, in the two decades to 2006. This Sea-Eagle is generally common, although there have been some localised declines in southern Australia through habitat destruction or

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disturbance to nest sites, particularly near urban centres (e.g. a 41% loss of occupied breeding territories in South Australia since historical levels, with 73% loss on the mainland). Being a rather shy and wary species, it generally avoids areas of human activity. In some areas, such as the Murray–Darling Basin and the tropics, it might have benefited from the introduction of fish species and from rubbish dumps. In Australia, the thickness of its eggshells was reduced by DDT use and it is locally affected by toxins in polluted estuaries. Shooting and other forms of direct persecution are a local problem. In south-

ern Australia, this Sea-Eagle is at risk of further decline through increasing residential, tourist and recreational developments; loss of coastal breeding habitat might bring pairs into increasing conflict with Wedge-tailed Eagles over nest sites. Other threats include logging or clearing of breeding habitat and nest sites, fire, oiling from oil spills and commercial fish offal dumps, entanglement in fishing gear and fish-farm netting, collisions (e.g. with windfarm turbines, vehicles, powerlines) and, in urban areas, disease (trichomoniasis and viral beak and feather disease) from eating infected birds.

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Goshawks and sparrowhawks, genus Accipiter

This cosmopolitan genus (Accipiter means ‘hawk’), traditionally of about 40 species, is the largest and most diverse in the family, although recent DNA evidence suggests that the genus should be split, as some are more closely related to harriers (genus Circus) than to one another. Males of the smallest species, at under 100 g, are thrush-sized, whereas females of the largest species, at more than 1000 g, are as big as small eagles. Collectively, they are known elsewhere as ‘wood-hawks’ because they are adapted for swift agile flight within forest and woodland. They are characterised by broad rounded wings (falling well short of the tail tip at rest), five primary ‘fingers’, long tails and long legs and toes (the last reaching beyond the undertail coverts in flight). They also have tight plumage that, in adults, is usually finely barred below. The larger species have a fierce expression, caused by heavy brow-ridges. The tarsi have scutellate scalation in front and reticulate scaling behind, noticeable in juveniles, but the scutes tend to fuse to produce smooth tarsi in adulthood. These hawks hunt from perches or by flying stealthily and dextrously among trees. They have perfected the technique of ambush waiting, suddenly bursting from cover and accelerating rapidly in a short chase if necessary. The sparrowhawks have spindly legs and long toes, notably the middle toe, for snatching birds in flight; the larger goshawks are more heavily 132

armed and sometimes plunge recklessly into cover after their quarry, which can be as large as themselves. The name gos-hawk shares the same derivation as gosling and refers to the medieval practice of using hawks to hunt geese and other game for human consumption. The distinction between goshawk and sparrowhawk, based on size and foot structure, is arbitrary and does not reflect genetic relationships. The Brown and Grey Goshawks, together with several New Guinean and Melanesian species, form a related group derived from an endemic radiation. The Collared Sparrowhawk is apparently related to several New Guinean and Wallacean sparrowhawks. However, DNA evidence shows that the Collared Sparrowhawk clusters genetically with the Brown Goshawk rather than the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). This finding reinforces the Australasian region as a centre of diversity and endemism in the genus, with six species in New Guinea (two shared with Australia), seven other species elsewhere in Melanesia and a further six in Wallacea (or 20 endemic species in Australasia). Recently, the Grey Goshawk has been split from the Variable Goshawk (Accipiter hiogaster, of Wallacea to the Solomon Islands) and the Christmas Island Goshawk has been proposed as a subspecies (natalis) of the Variable Goshawk rather than of the Brown Goshawk; the Christmas Island Goshawk might even deserve

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full species rank. DNA evidence on these matters is desirable. A New Guinean species, the Greyheaded Goshawk (Accipiter poliocephalus, the specific name meaning ‘grey head’), might yet be confirmed as occurring in tropical rainforest on Cape York Peninsula. Unsubstantiated claims have culminated in an unconfirmed report of a pair nesting at the tip of Cape York, a sighting on Saibai Island in Torres Strait and a sighting in far northern Queensland of an unidentified goshawk that might have been a juvenile of this species. The Greyheaded is like a small unbarred Grey Goshawk (grey morph) with more orange-red cere, eye-rings and legs. Claims of Greyheaded Goshawks in Australia require careful substantiation.

Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus Field Guide p. 38, photos p. 93. The specific name (‘banded’) refers to the ventral barring. The species is characterised by prominent bony brow-ridges and

robust feet with the tip of the middle toe not projecting beyond the claws of the other toes.

Distribution The Brown Goshawk occurs throughout Australia and Tasmania, and in Wallacea, New Guinea, New Caledonia and the south-easternmost Solomon Islands. The form inhabiting Christmas Island, Indian Ocean (off Java), is variously assigned to this species or as a subspecies of the Variable Goshawk, Accipiter hiogaster, or it may be a full species in its own right.

Food and hunting The Brown Goshawk eats mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods and occasionally carrion; mostly birds and young rabbits in the south, and birds and lizards in the north. Vertebrate prey is usually less than 500 g but sometimes more than 1 kg. It forages mostly by still-hunting from a concealed perch in foliage, as well as by soaring or low fast flight. It seizes prey, usually on the ground, by a stealthy glide or direct flying attack that sometimes becomes a short chase. It also flushes prey from cover and stalks insects on the ground.

Behaviour

Comparative silhouettes: Brown Goshawk (a) soaring, (b) gliding, (c) fast glide; Collared Sparrowhawk (d) soaring, (e) fast glide

The wary Brown Goshawk usually skulks, unobserved, in cover and is often glimpsed only when it flushes and leaves through the trees. It is more readily seen when it soars in spirals. It can also be seen at close quarters when it is engrossed in the hunt. In urban or rural situations, this might be when it recklessly attacks domestic birds or chickens around houses. In the breed133

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ing season, these Goshawks perch and call conspicuously and perform aerial displays. Single birds soar and perform an undulating display; members of a pair soar and perform chasing or following flights with deep exaggerated beats (slowflapping flight) and upslurred ringing whistles. Brown Goshawks of the southern subspecies are partly migratory over most of their range: juveniles and some adults (particularly females) from high altitudes and latitudes winter in coastal, lowland or northern parts of Australia, exceptionally reaching islands to the north. Some adults defend regular winter territories separate from their breeding territories. There is a noticeable influx of mostly young birds into urban areas from early autumn. Some individuals of the tropical subspecies, from inland northern Australia, winter on the northern coast and perhaps in parts of Wallacea. An unresolved question is whether the two subspecies interbreed or behave as separate species in areas where their ranges overlap.

Breeding The laying season is August to December. Pairs breed solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks 38−70 cm across, 18−30 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 2−36 m above ground in the fork of a living tree. The clutch size is usually three eggs, ranging from two to four. Incubation takes 30 days and the nestling period is 28−37 days. Success was 1.6−1.75 young per attempt and 2.1−2.75 per successful nest in south-eastern Australia; 62% of attempts were successful in

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north-eastern Australia, with 1.6 young per successful nest and 1.0 young per active nest. In central Australia, success was 1.0–1.75 young per active nest, with failure during a dry year. Double-brooding within a season has been recorded in the tropics, where success was 1.13 young fledged per active nest. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 6 weeks, after which juveniles disperse or migrate up to 900 km. Sexual maturity is attained at 1 year, although breeding in juvenile plumage is rare. Mean annual survival is 65−79% in south-eastern Australia, with banded birds living up to 17 years.

Threats and conservation The Brown Goshawk is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common and widespread; there probably were local declines in southern Australia where habitat clearance is extensive, but it has benefited from the introduction of the rabbit and it preys on introduced birds. Its atlas reporting rate increased by 28% nationally and did not change in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, even though it was less likely to be recorded by the new atlas methods. However, use of the original atlas methods found a significant and sustained decline of almost 50% in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, possibly partly droughtrelated. The effects of DDT on its eggshell thickness were local and insignificant in Australia. It is often illegally shot (mainly juveniles), but the effect on populations is also insignificant. Threats include ongoing clearing of woodlands.

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Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus Field Guide p. 40, photos p. 94. The specific name (‘tawny head’) refers to the rufous half-collar around the hindneck. The species is characterised by slight brow-ridges and slender feet with the last segment of the middle toe projecting beyond the claws of the other toes.

Distribution The Collared Sparrowhawk occurs throughout Australia and Tasmania, as well as in New Guinea and some of its satellite islands.

Food and hunting The Collared Sparrowhawk mostly eats small birds, particularly passerines (including introduced sparrows and starlings); it also takes lizards, insects and (rarely) small mammals. Most prey is under 100 g, rarely over 200 g. It forages by short-stay perch hunting from a concealed position in foliage, punctuated by short tree-to-tree flights often in undulating mode. It also forages by quartering flight or low fast flight, sometimes hedge-hopping. Prey is seized in flight by a direct flying attack or a stealthy glide that becomes a short chase.

Behaviour The Collared Sparrowhawk is often trusting and approachable, although cryptic and therefore easily overlooked. Although difficult to see when perched in cover, its presence is betrayed by its calls. It is more

readily seen in soaring flight. Early in the breeding season, solitary birds or pairs soar and perform undulating displays and slow-flapping flight with chittering calls. Individuals also perch in the nesting area and give slower, mellow chattering calls. The male gives soft mewing notes as he brings food to the female, and mating is accompanied by loud squealing calls. Later in the breeding cycle, the female seizes food brought by the male and gives loud dismissal calls much like the begging calls of fledglings. Some food transfers are aerial. After the breeding season, some birds (mostly females and juveniles) move into urban areas where they are sometimes seen around aviaries, although they are less prone to conflict with humans than are the two larger goshawks. Sparrowhawks live and breed unobtrusively in some large, well-wooded urban parks.

Breeding The laying season is July to December. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks 27−32 cm across, 12−15 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 4−39 m above ground in the fork of a living tree. The clutch size is usually three or four eggs, ranging from two to five. Incubation takes 35  days and the nestling period is ~28−33 days. Success was 1.6 young fledged per clutch laid and 1.7 per successful nest; nestlings are occasionally taken by goannas. In central Australia, success was 2.1–3.25 young per active nest, with failure during a dry year. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 6 weeks, after which young disperse. Sexual

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maturity is attained at 1 year, with birds sometimes breeding in juvenile plumage.

Threats and conservation The Collared Sparrowhawk is not globally or nationally threatened. It is widespread and generally uncommon, but can be common in forest in the tropics and subtropics; it is secretive and probably underrecorded. It has undergone local declines in extensively cleared areas, particularly in south-western Australia where there are few exotic passerines as prey and native passerines have declined with habitat loss. However, its atlas reporting rate increased by 49% nationally and 31% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, consistent with its apparent adaptation to wellvegetated suburbs. Use of the original atlas methods found a slight decline (possibly drought-related), then recovery in reporting rates in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, suggesting overall stability. The thickness of its eggshells was reduced by DDT use in Australia; some local reduction in breeding success was likely. It is possibly affected in south-eastern Australia by the population explosion of the Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina), a predator and competitor capable of robbing and injuring adults and killing nestlings. Sparrowhawks sometimes collide with windows.

Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae Field Guide p. 42, photos pp. 95–96. The specific name (‘of New Holland’) denotes the country of origin of the first specimen known to science. 136

Distribution The endemic Grey Goshawk occurs in northern, eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The small, brightly coloured polymorphic forms in Wallacea, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are now classified as a separate ­species, the Variable Goshawk (Accipiter hiogaster).

Food and hunting The Grey Goshawk eats mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods and (rarely) carrion; prey ranges up to rabbit and heron size in southern Australia. It forages mainly by still-hunting from a concealed perch in the tree canopy, as well as by low fast flight, quartering and soaring. It seizes prey on the ground or a perch by diving, stealthy glides or direct flying attacks that become a short chase. It also drags ringtail possums (Pseudocheirus species) from their dreys.

Behaviour Both morphs of the Grey Goshawk are cryptic and difficult to see when perched high within their preferred habitat of rainforest or giant, pale-trunked forest gums, although their presence is betrayed by their calls. They also perch for long periods in exposed positions, high in tall trees on creeklines or at the edge of forest. They are more readily seen when they soar in spirals above the forest. At such times, in the breeding season, they also perform solitary undulating displays and paired slow-flapping flights like those of the Brown Goshawk. In the non-breeding season, individuals can be seen when they

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Aerial undulating display

boldly attempt to take domestic chickens or birds around urban or rural houses.

Breeding The laying season is September to December in southern Australia and February to November in the north. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks 50−60 cm across, 35 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed up to 15 m above ground in the canopy of a living tree. The clutch size is usually two or three eggs, occasionally four. Incubation takes ~30 days and the nestling period is 30−38 days. Nine young fledged from 14 eggs; 94% of attempts were successful, with 1.5 young per successful nest and 1.4 young per active nest. Doublebrooding within a season has been recorded in the tropics. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 6 weeks and exceptionally up to 4  months, after which young disperse widely. Longevity in captivity is up to 21 years.

Threats and conservation The Grey Goshawk is not nationally threatened, although it is classified as vulnerable in Victoria and Tasmania and as endangered in South Australia. It is common in the tropics and subtropics, but uncommon at the extremities of its range in southern and north-western Australia. It is subject to habitat loss in south-eastern Australia. However, its atlas reporting rate did not change nationally over the two decades to 2000 and increased by 36% in New South Wales (a non-significant change, owing to small sample size). A larger sample size, using the original atlas methods, found a small overall increase in its reporting rate in coastal New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia.

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Australasian endemic hawks, genus Erythrotriorchis This genus consists of the Australian Red Goshawk and the New Guinean Chestnutshouldered Goshawk (Erythrotriorchis buergersi, a dusky, short-winged, more piebald version of the Red Goshawk). Recent DNA work has confirmed that they, along with Doria’s Hawk (Megatriorchis doriae, an even shorter winged, longtailed rainforest species of New Guinea), are after all, indeed related to the goshawks (genus Accipiter) and harriers (genus Circus). The DNA evidence also suggests that certain Accipiter species and the harriers are each other’s closest relatives, and that therefore the large, artificial genus ‘Accipiter’ in the old, broad sense should be split to recognise, among other things, a separate genus for the Australasian goshawks and sparrowhawks. Based on DNA evidence, some of the other previously hypothesised elements of an ‘old endemic’ Australasian raptor fauna were also incorrect. The Madagascar Serpent-Eagle (Eutriorchis) is a gypaetine, so a connection with the pernines is there, if a little distant. However, the Congo SerpentEagle is a short-winged, long-tailed member of the genus Circaetus, adapted to rainforests, the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga) is a gigantic snake-eagle related to Circaetus (as its armoured legs, plumage, cowl-like crest and partly reptilian diet suggest) and the New Guinea Harpy Eagle (Harpyopsis) is indeed a harpiine along with South American Harpia and Morphnus (the last a further 138

Gondwanan connection, although involving a different hawk lineage). The Red Goshawk’s and Square-tailed Kite’s plumages are so similar as to suggest plumage mimicry. Like the Square-tailed Kite and Black-breasted Buzzard, the Red Goshawk has much rufous in its plumage, especially in juveniles, and strongly patterned underwings. However, the Red Goshawk is characterised by a robust bill, slight brow-ridge and exceptionally heavy feet with bare tarsi having scutellate scaling front and back (the scutes becoming fused in adulthood). The Red Goshawk’s long wings and streaky plumage are unlike those of the other goshawks (Accipiter species).

Red Goshawk Erythrotriorchis radiatus Field Guide p. 44, photo p. 96. The generic name is a composite usually taken to mean ‘red bird of prey’, the second part translating literally as ‘three testicles’. Apparently this was an ancient allusion to the high level of sexual activity by raptors, which copulate frequently when nesting. The specific name (‘radiated’) refers to the boldly striped or barred plumage.

Characteristics The Red Goshawk is a large, active, rufousbrown hawk, boldly mottled and streaked, with a square-tipped tail, massive legs and feet and boldly barred underwings. Direct

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flight is sometimes leisurely, rather heavy and crow-like with sustained flapping (especially the female). Rapid flight, as in pursuit, is powerful and energetic, like a fast-flying Brown Falcon with deep fluid wing-beats. It sails and soars with parallel and almost straight leading and trailing edges to the wings, slightly bulging secondaries and fingered tips; it sometimes soars with the legs lowered. Descending glides are on flat or slightly bowed wings, with flexed carpals and pointed tips. It sometimes stoops with closed wings. The flat head, deep bill (female), broad deep chest and large pale feet are often obvious. In flight, it has ‘six-fingered’ wings (compare harriers) and the long toes extend beyond the undertail coverts (compare Square-tailed Kite).

Distribution The Red Goshawk is confined to a narrow coastal and subcoastal strip from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, across the Top End of the Northern Territory and Gulf of Carpentaria to eastern Queensland and extreme north-eastern coastal New South Wales. Occasional wandering birds reach central Australia.

Food and hunting The Red Goshawk eats mostly birds, particularly parrots and pigeons but sometimes herons, waterfowl, kookaburras and megapodes. Rarely, it takes mammals (up to small possums, flying-foxes and young hares in size), reptiles (snakes, lizards) and large insects. Early and late in the day the Goshawk forages by short-stay perch hunting from concealed positions in trees; in the middle of the day it forages by long

gliding or flying transects and low quartering through or just above the tree canopy, or by high soaring flight. It often seizes prey in flight after a stealthy glide or direct flying attack that becomes a vigorous chase; it also stoops on prey from a height.

Behaviour The Red Goshawk is difficult to observe and seldom seen, other than around an active nest. It usually skulks in trees, but can be observed opportunistically as it flies past or soars high. Solitary birds or pairs soar and perform aerial displays of agility, including an undulating display and mock attack-and-parry with evasive dives or rolls. In the breeding season, the male also performs low-level acrobatic flights about the perched female. Noisy food-passes from male to female take place on perches near the nest, sometimes with ritual mounting by the male.

Breeding The laying season is from May to October in the north, August to October in the east. Pairs nest solitarily. The Red Goshawk is monogamous; the suggestion that a male was possibly bigamous was based on a reporting error: a female (not a male) was briefly seen at a neighbouring female’s active nest as well as her own. The nest is a platform of sticks 60−120 cm across, 30−50 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 15−29 m above ground in an exposed fork of the tallest emergent living or partly dead tree. The clutch size is usually two eggs, ranging from one to (rarely) three. Incubation takes ~40 days and the nestling period is 51−58 days. Breeding 139

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success in northern Australia in the 1980s was 0.9 young per pair per year, but in north Queensland in 2000 was 0.6 young per attempt. Juveniles remain dependent on their parents for at least 2–3 months and might remain in the natal territory for 4–6 months. Red Goshawks probably reach sexual maturity at 2 years or older, because there are no records of breeding in juvenile plumage.

Threats and conservation The Red Goshawk is globally threatened, classified as vulnerable in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, as endangered in Queensland and as critically endangered in New South Wales. Federally listed as vulnerable, its national status was proposed as near-threatened but a review has retained it as vulnerable. It is scarce, with specialised requirements, and is locally restricted within its continental range. In eastern Australia, populations have declined and breeding range contracted through loss and fragmentation of habitat, and apparently from the European fire regime causing vegetation thickening. It has now effectively disappeared from south-eastern (and perhaps central-

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eastern) Queensland as well as New South Wales. The Red Goshawk has a low breeding density and recruitment rate. It is threatened by deforestation and illegal egg-collecting, and locally by disturbance from birdwatchers and photographers at nests. Continuing threats in Queensland include habitat clearance, logging of nesting habitat, and loss or degradation of freshwater wetlands. It was probably affected locally by DDT use, but there are insufficient data to detect changes in eggshell thickness. The population is estimated at ~700 breeding pairs, most (or now all) of which are in tropical Australia, and with the decline in eastern Australia may now number ~650 pairs. Conservation measures include ecological studies and monitoring of known territories in northern Australia, a population survey in Queensland, establishment of a recovery team, and a national management plan released in 2012. Additional conservation measures are required, such as further surveys in eastern Australia to locate breeding territories, which should be secured and monitored; and research into this Goshawk’s biology and ecology in eastern Australia.

Harriers, genus Circus

The hawks in this cosmopolitan genus (‘circling hawk’) are so called because of their low harrying flight back and forth across a patch of ground. They are characterised by a slim body, short broad head, long narrow wings and long tail. The pattern of tarsal scalation is scutellate in front and reticulate behind. They fly buoyantly, gliding on raised wings low over open country or water. Their wings show five separated primary ‘fingers’, like those of the goshawks (Accipiter), rather than the six of large kites and small eagles; in flight, the tips of the toes extend beyond the undertail coverts. Harriers possess an owl-like facial ruff and large asymmetrical ear openings apparently for detecting and pinpointing the sounds of prey in dense cover, and long legs for reaching into long grass or reeds. Depending heavily on sound for hunting, they have aural acuity better than that of most raptors and approaching that of the owls. Harriers constitute the only group of raptors in which polygyny is common, though in Australasia the Swamp Harrier is usually monogamous and the Spotted Harrier invariably so. The polygynous harriers are sexually dichromatic, with distinctively coloured males and cryptically coloured (juvenile-like) females. Harriers generally nest on the ground or among wetland vegetation. The Spotted Harrier nests in trees. It builds a typical harrier ‘ground nest’ but sites it in precarious positions on the horizontal limbs or forks of trees. Tree-nesting

in the Spotted Harrier is probably an adaptation to avoid ground predators in the dry country where it lives. Recent DNA evidence supports an Australasian origin for the ‘steppe’ group of harriers, with the Spotted Harrier basal in that branch of the genetic tree having members in Eurasia, Africa and the Americas. The evidence also supports a Eurasian origin for the ‘marsh harrier’ group on the other branch, with the Western and African Marsh-Harriers closely related to each other, and the Swamp Harrier derived from the Eastern Marsh-Harrier (Circus spilonotus). Circus is closely related to, and nested within, a large artificial ‘Accipiter’ genus that consequently requires splitting into several genera. The Papuan Harrier has recently been found, on DNA evidence, to be a subspecies of the Swamp Harrier rather than of the Eastern Marsh-Harrier. It is not yet admissible to the Australian list: all such claims to date likely referring to the ‘hooded’ plumages of the immature Spotted Harrier or male Swamp Harrier.

Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis Field Guide p. 46, photos pp. 97–98. The specific name (‘similar’) indicates a supposed likeness to others in the genus, although the Spotted Harrier has unique plumage.

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(a–c) Bowing display sequence; (d) courtship food provision

Distribution

The Spotted Harrier eats terrestrial birds (quail, larks, pipits), mammals (rabbit kittens, rodents), reptiles, large insects and (rarely) carrion. It forages by low slow quartering or transect hunting, sometimes hovering. It seizes prey by diving to the ground or by a short chase if prey is flushed. It occasionally forages on the ground, stalking lizards on foot.

silent and less inclined to perform aerial displays than is the Swamp Harrier, but does spiral high and occasionally perform diving displays. Its aerial undulating display, although rarely seen, is similar to that of the Swamp Harrier and the African MarshHarrier. In courtship, the male escorts the female to the nest where he performs a bowing display. Also in courtship and when provisioning the incubating or brooding female, the male delivers prey in an aerial food-pass. In southern Australia Spotted Harriers are spring–summer breeding migrants, generally departing northwards for the winter, but the extent, timing and location of migratory movements vary with seasonal conditions and food supply.

Behaviour

Breeding

The Spotted Harrier is usually seen floating languidly, at or near ground level. It is more

The laying season is usually September to October in southern Australia, exception-

The Spotted Harrier occurs throughout mainland Australia except in densely forested parts. It rarely reaches Tasmania. It also occurs in Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Food and hunting

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Harriers

ally March to June, and June to September in the north. There might be two breeding seasons in a year. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks lined with green leaves, 40−70 cm across, 16−30 cm deep and placed 2−15 m above the ground in a living tree. There are rare cases of unsuccessful nests built on the ground. The clutch size is usually three eggs, ranging from two to four. Incubation takes 33 days and the nestling period is 36−43 days. Success has been measured as 56−75% hatching success and 44−57% fledging success (of eggs laid), and as 1.3 young fledged per nest, 2.17 per successful nest and 0.9 per territorial pair. The period of dependence after fledging lasts at least 6  weeks, after which juveniles disperse or migrate up to 1600 km. Age at first breeding is 2 years.

Swamp Harrier Circus approximans Field Guide p. 48, photos pp. 98–99. The specific name (‘approaching’) alludes to the similarity of this species to other harriers, probably the Northern Marsh-Harrier.

Distribution The Swamp Harrier occurs through most of Australia and Tasmania, except densely forested parts and the arid inland away from surface water. Breeding has been recorded mainly in southern regions,

Threats and conservation The Spotted Harrier is not globally or nationally threatened. It is generally uncommon but widespread; it might have benefited locally in southern Australia from the creation of suitable habitat and an increase in native and introduced prey. However, its atlas reporting rate declined by 47% nationally and 55% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, and it is now classified as vulnerable in New South Wales and as near-threatened in Victoria. Use of the original atlas methods found a significant decline of almost 50% in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, though a subsequent recovery was apparently related to ‘boom and bust’ cycles. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia.

Aerial territory boundary display as seen from front and side

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although its occurrence has recently been confirmed in coastal Queensland as far north as the Townsville region. The Swamp Harrier also occurs in New Zealand, Polynesia and parts of Melanesia, including New Guinea where it is a winter migrant. It is a rare vagrant to subantarctic islands. The Papuan Harrier (of mainland New Guinea) is now recognised as a subspecies of the Swamp Harrier.

function as information centres at which some birds learn where others are hunting successfully.

Breeding

The Swamp Harrier eats mammals, birds and their eggs, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects and carrion. It forages by low slow quartering, as well as by soaring. It seizes prey by diving or dropping to the ground or water surface, sometimes after hovering; it harries waterbirds to exhaustion or sometimes drowns them. It also robs other raptors.

The laying season is September to December. Pairs nest solitarily or in loose clumps with other pairs; the species is rarely polygynous. The nest is a platform of sticks, reeds, grass and other plants among tall grass, heath, shrubs or reeds, on the ground or in water. The clutch size is usually three or four eggs, although ranging from two to seven. Incubation takes 33 days and the nestling period is 43−46 days. Success has been measured as 1.05−1.75 young fledged per nest, and 1.82−2.15 per successful nest. The period of dependence after fledging lasts about 4–6 weeks. Juveniles disperse at about 7 weeks and wander or migrate up to 1500 km.

Behaviour

Threats and conservation

The Swamp Harrier is usually seen sailing low over wetlands or open country. It often perches or roosts on the ground. In the breeding season, birds soar high and perform a languid undulating display with deep sweeping wing-beats and some twisting and rolling at the zenith, accompanied by mewing calls. The male also dives at the female, which evades him or rolls to parry with her feet. The female’s descent to the nest is followed by the male diving in stages like a falling leaf. Foodpasses, in courtship and to provision the nesting female, are aerial. After breeding, Swamp Harriers in southern regions (notably Tasmania) migrate northwards, sometimes in groups. Wintering birds roost communally; such roosts might

The Swamp Harrier is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common in suitable habitat but has declined where wetlands have been drained. Its atlas reporting rate increased (non-significantly) by 14% nationally and by 28% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, possibly reflecting the wet second atlas period. Use of the original atlas methods found a fluctuating, but overall stable, reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, although the number of breeding pairs has declined in recent years in the Australian Capital Territory. Nests are very vulnerable to human disturbance. The thickness of its eggshells was reduced in agricultural areas of southern Australia by DDT use.

Food and hunting

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Booted eagles, genera Aquila and Hieraaetus

The species in this group are the raptors usually thought of as ‘eagles’ in the strict sense, although the smallest species do not fit the popular image in terms of size. They are characterised by powerful bills and feet and feathered or ‘booted’ tarsi. Australia has one breeding representative from each of the two main genera, Aquila (‘eagle’) and Hieraaetus (‘hawk eagle’): the Wedgetailed Eagle and Little Eagle. A second species of Aquila visits islands in northern Torres Strait and has occasionally been suspected, although not confirmed, on Cape York Peninsula. Both genera occur in the Old World; Aquila also reaches North America. DNA comparisons have reorganised the traditional composition of the respective genera, and identified a new cluster: the spotted eagles (deserving of generic rank as Clanga) plus African Lophaetus and Asian Ictinaetus. Furthermore, the Rufous-bellied Eagle (of Asia) deserves its own monotypic genus (Lophotriorchis), basal in the aquiline tree; the New Guinean Little Eagle is separable as a full species, the Pygmy Eagle (Hieraaetus weiskei); and latest evidence is that Aquila and Hieraaetus (in the revised sense) should remain as separate genera. Closely related to them are the shortwinged tropical Asian forest hawk-eagles of the third main genus, now separated as Nisaetus, which reaches Wallacea but not Australia. Formerly monotypic genera in South America, now merged into Spizaetus in the strict sense, and two monotypic

African genera complete the group. As a whole, the group can be characterised as predatory soaring raptors with broad rounded wings that are slotted by emarginated primaries; most have head ornamentation varying from noticeable hackles on the nape to slight or elaborate occipital crests. They are now known to be not very closely related to the buzzards (genus Buteo), a few of which also have feathered tarsi. The largest booted eagles are among the world’s largest raptors (other than vultures). Largest in the group is the Martial Eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus) of Africa. Next are two members of the genus Aquila: the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) of the Holarctic, and Verreaux’s or African Black Eagle (Aquila verreauxii). Only slightly smaller is Australia’s Wedge-tailed Eagle, followed by the Crowned Eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus) of Africa and several other Aquila species that are scarcely smaller again. Even the Martial Eagle is exceeded in size by two northern seaeagles (Haliaeetus), and by the Harpy Eagle (Harpia) of South America and the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga). There is no truth in old claims that the Wedgetailed Eagle is the world’s largest eagle, or even the fifth-largest. Australia is also inhabited by one of the smallest booted eagles. Other species in the genus Hieraaetus approximate Australia’s Little Eagle in size, with the larger Bonelli’s Eagle (Eurasia), African Hawk145

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Eagle and Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle (tropical Africa) now transferred to Aquila. Most eagles of the genus Aquila are shades of brown, with conspicuous hackles on the nape, although some tropical species have black-and-white adult plumage. They have piping, yelping or barking voices. Members of the genus Hieraaetus (in the revised sense) are more variegated, with dimorphic plumages, slight crests and more melodious whistling voices. The aquilines are most diverse in Africa, with the Wedge-tailed Eagle (and its sister species, Gurney’s Eagle) more closely related to Verreaux’s and Bonelli’s Eagles than to the Golden Eagle. There has been much endemic radiation of the group in Asia. The short-winged rainforest hawk-eagles of South America are, however, generically distinct from their ecological counterparts in Asia, suggesting long isolation. Together with the Gondwanan patterns evident among the elanines, pernines and harpiines, and the remarkable endemic radiation of the buteonines in South America, the aquiline pattern supports the notion of a Gondwanan origin for the Accipitriformes and some lineages within the Accipitridae.

Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax Field Guide p. 50, photos p. 100. The specific name (‘bold’) is a misnomer for this normally shy and wary bird.

Distribution The Wedge-tailed Eagle occurs throughout Australia and in the Trans-Fly savannas of southern New Guinea. 146

Food and hunting The Wedge-tailed Eagle eats mammals, birds, reptiles and carrion. In the south it prefers rabbits and hares, in the north young kangaroos and wallabies. Rabbits are still important in southern Australia even after the effect of the rabbit calicivirus, as are road-kills on highways. In tropical rainforest the Wedge-tailed Eagle takes possums. Birds taken commonly include crows, cockatoos and waterfowl, (rarely) up to the size of cranes and bustards. Reptiles commonly taken are dragons and goannas, rarely snakes. It forages by low slow quartering, high soaring or still-hunting from a perch. It seizes prey on the ground or sometimes from the tree canopy after a swift stealthy glide or dive, which can become a short chase; it rarely takes prey in flight. Occasionally it removes mammals such as possums from tree hollows. Pairs or groups attack large prey cooperatively. Individuals gather at carcasses of large animals, dominate other scavengers and occasionally rob other raptors.

Behaviour The Wedge-tailed Eagle is usually seen soaring majestically, high in the air, typically above hill crests, mountain peaks or escarpments, although also over flat plains. It can be seen sitting prominently on a high perch, such as a tall dead tree or rocky prominence, or on a shrub or low tree in the inland. It is often seen at roadkills. Territorial birds soar high, for 90 min or more, in a display of ownership that might culminate in an undulating display. A stoop at an intruder can cause the latter to roll and parry with its claws. At all times of year, but particularly in the breeding

B o o t e d e agl e s

Undulating diving display

season, pairs spiral up in a mutual soaring display that might culminate in rolling and foot-touching when the male dives at the female. The pair then descends to mate on a branch near the nest. Aerial manoeuvres are sometimes mistaken for attempted copulation on the wing. Mated birds perch together, extend their necks and touch bills or sometimes allopreen. Presentation of nesting material by the male sometimes precedes copulation, and in courtship feeding or provisioning of the nesting female some food-passes are aerial. Territorial eagles sometimes attack hang-gliders

or paragliders who are too near their nests, and a few bold individuals now swoop human intruders at or near nests.

Breeding The laying season is April to September, occasionally earlier in the tropical north. Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a large platform or pile of sticks typically 70–90 cm across, 30–80 cm deep and lined with green leaves; it can become 2.1 m wide and 3 m deep with repeated use. It is usually built in a live or dead tree with a commanding view, 2–73 m above ground in the tallest 147

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available tree, although often near the ground in remote deserts, and anywhere typically on a rise or hillside or in a gully on a slope, where the terrain permits. The nest is occasionally built on cliff ledges, among rocks and even on the ground on islands in areas inaccessible to humans; rarely, it is built on a structure such as a power pole or pylon. The clutch size is usually two eggs, ranging from one to three, rarely four; in Tasmania the clutch size is usually one. Incubation takes 42–43 days and the nestling period is 77–95 days. Success varies regionally: in south-western Australia 0.7– 1.2 young fledged per clutch laid, 0.19–0.46 young per pair per year, and more recently 0.73 young per pair per year; in south-eastern Australia 0.9–1.5 young per clutch laid, 0.6–1.1 young per pair per year; in Tasmania 0.8 young per clutch laid, 1.07 per successful nest. Since the release of the rabbit calicivirus, breeding productivity has remained within these values in the arid and semi-arid zones despite a muchreduced rabbit population, and it has increased in some temperate areas where the eagles now prey on the abundant juveniles of an increasing kangaroo population. The period of dependence after fledging lasts 3–6 months, after which young disperse widely (commonly 200 km, but up to 1000 km). Sexual maturity is reached at 3  years and birds will pair in immature plumage, though they seldom breed before acquiring adult plumage at 6 years. The oldest banded wild bird was 11 years; longevity in captivity is up to 40 years.

Threats and conservation The Wedge-tailed Eagle is not globally or nationally threatened. However, its atlas 148

reporting rate declined by 28% nationally and by 15% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000. Use of the original atlas methods found a 30% decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. These changes may have been drought-related. It remains widespread and common on the Australian mainland despite former intense persecution for its supposed impact on domestic livestock (now shown to be negligible). It is still subject to illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning. It has declined locally in the south through habitat disturbance in heavily settled and farmed areas, because the Wedge-tailed Eagle’s intolerance of human activity leads it to abandon its nest. However, it is becoming more willing to nest closer to roads and houses. It has benefited from thinning of the tree cover, introduction of the rabbit and provision of abundant carrion via road-kill. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. The large isolated Tasmanian subspecies is officially classified as endangered, reassessed in 2011 as vulnerable, because its range and population are small (~430 breeding pairs) and it has more specific habitat requirements than mainland eagles. Death by collision with windfarm turbine blades is an emerging threat, likely to increase in frequency, although the impact on eagle populations requires investigation. Other threats include: electrocution on, or collisions with, infrastructure, vehicles and barbed wire; drowning in open-topped water tanks in the inland; possible secondary poisoning from pindone rabbit baits; and beak and feather viral disease from eating infected

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cockatoos. Lead poisoning from ammunition fragments in carcasses is emerging as a threat for habitual scavengers such as the Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides Field Guide p. 54, photos pp. 101–102.

towards the ground in several stages in this posture. Its display flight is distinctive: a series of aerial undulations with or without wing-beating on the upswing, producing an obvious flash pattern in pale birds, with a whistling call given loudly and frequently.

Distribution

The specific name (‘eagle-like’), in its diminutive form, implies a likeness to larger eagles.

The endemic Little Eagle occurs throughout mainland Australia. The form in New Guinea is now classified as a separate species, the Pygmy Eagle (Hieraaetus weiskei).

Characteristics

Food and hunting

The Little Eagle is a powerful, stocky small eagle with a short occipital crest, feathered legs and dark upperparts with a narrow pale upperwing bar. In soaring and gliding flight it is stable and controlled, even in strong winds, showing the pale upperwing band and a rather short square tail. It soars with the wings held straight out from the body, the leading and trailing edges parallel and the primaries sometimes slightly turned back. It has a characteristic windhanging hunting attitude: splayed wings held slightly forwards, alulae projecting and tail fanned. It sometimes drops

The Little Eagle eats mammals, birds, reptiles, occasionally large insects and carrion and rarely fish (the last possibly robbed from the Whistling Kite). In the south it prefers young rabbits, in the north birds and in the arid zone lizards. It catches mammals up to 1.5 kg; birds commonly taken are parrots and passerines, rarely up to 1 kg (ducks, crows); reptiles commonly taken are dragons, small goannas and large skinks, but rarely snakes. It forages by quartering and high soaring, by low flights between perches or by still-hunting from a perch. It seizes prey on the ground by a glide or dive,

Undulating diving display

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‘Pendulum’ variant of undulating display

s­ometimes by a rapid stoop to the tree canopy. It rarely takes prey in flight.

Behaviour The Little Eagle spends much time soaring high, often near or above the limit of human vision – its calls can be heard before the bird is seen. Its small size and habit of perching quietly in a living or dead tree mean that it is easily overlooked. At any time of year, but particularly during

Mutual soaring and talon presentation

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the breeding season, territorial birds soar in a special posture with the tail furled and primaries turned back and perform a vigorous undulating display, all the while with loud calling. Members of a pair soar together, the male’s approach or dive eliciting talon-presentation by the female, or some tumbling by both birds. When soaring to gain height, their wing-beats can be short and goshawk-like. Solitary or mutual soaring sometimes culminates in a long

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dive to the tree canopy or nesting site. Food-begging females give series of piping notes from the nest, or squeal and chitter loudly at the male when meeting him in the air. A breeding male in the Australian Capital Territory migrated to the Top End of the Northern Territory for the winter – a journey of more than 3000 km – then returned.

Breeding The laying season varies with latitude: it is longer in the tropical far north, occupying the dry season (March to September), shorter in the centre and south (usually August to October; rarely starting in May or extending to December for replacement clutches). Pairs nest solitarily. The nest is a platform of sticks 60–75 cm across, ~30 cm deep, lined with green leaves and placed 5–45 m above ground in the fork of a living tree. The clutch size is usually two eggs, ranging from one to three. Incubation takes 37–39 days and the nestling period is 52–66 days. Success varies regionally and according to weather (lower in wet or drought years): 0.5–1.0 young fledged per pair per year, 0.8–0.9 young per clutch laid, 1.1 young per successful nest. Success has declined in eastern temperate regions, generally remaining within the lower known values, although it was 0.44 young fledged per attempt, 0.67 fledged per pair that laid, and 1.3 per successful nest near Canberra in 2017. The number of active breeding territories has also declined in certain areas. The period of dependence

after fledging lasts 2–3 months, after which young disperse or migrate up to more than 2000 km. The oldest banded wild bird was 26 years.

Threats and conservation The Little Eagle is not nationally threatened. However, it is classified as vulnerable in New South Wales (estimated population 3000 breeding pairs) and in the Australian Capital Territory (population one to four known pairs post-2000 to nine known breeding pairs, after intensive survey, in 2017, down from ~11 pairs in 1990 and perhaps twice that number in the 1980s). Its atlas reporting rate declined by 14% nationally (more than 20% across the Murray–Darling Basin and eastern sheep– wheat belt) and by 39% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000. Use of the original atlas methods found a 70% decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, which would qualify the Little Eagle for endangered status. Although remaining common and widespread over much of Australia, the Little Eagle is being displaced from the temperate woodlands by urban and ruralresidential expansion and by competition from Wedge-tailed Eagles for remaining nest sites in woodland remnants. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. However, it might be adversely affected by agricultural poisons, including secondary poisoning from pindone rabbit baits. The causes of decline require investigation.

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Falcons, genus Falco

The six Australian members of the Falconidae all belong to the cosmopolitan genus Falco (‘falcon’). Previously hypothesised relationships within Falco, based on feather proteins, were incorrect and require revision in the light of DNA evidence. The Nankeen Kestrel is a member of the widespread group of Old World kestrels or small hovering falcons, on their own branch basal in the family tree, which originated in Africa (and which excludes the genetically rather different, but ecologically similar, American Kestrel). The Nankeen, and its sister species the Moluccan or Spotted Kestrel (Falco moluccensis), colonised Australasia fairly recently via South-East Asia. The Brown Falcon is an ‘old endemic’ Australian falcon basal on the other Falco branch that gave rise to all the other falcons. The New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae) is related to the Aplomado Falcon (F. femoralis) of South America. The Australian Hobby is basal in a group of typical hobbies that includes the Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo, Eurasia), African Hobby (F. cuvierii) and Eleonora’s Falcon (F. eleonorae, Mediterranean/ Africa). The Black Falcon is a ‘great’ or ‘desert’ falcon related to the Laggar Falcon (F. jugger) of India and other large Old World steppe species. The Grey Falcon is basal to the split that gave rise to the ‘great’ falcons and the peregrine group. The Peregrine Falcon, having differentiated little from other forms within that species else152

where in the world, is a recent colonist in Australia. Thus, the notion of a group of ‘Australasian hobbies’, within a group of ‘Gondwanan hobbies’, must be discarded. Nevertheless, the DNA and fossil evidence supports the notion of a Gondwanan origin for the Falconiformes. The falcons are characterised in the field by their dark facial or head markings, dark eyes, conspicuous and often brightly coloured orbital skin and other bare parts, long pointed wings and usually rapid flight. Unlike members of the hawk family, perched falcons head-bob when scrutinising an object intently. At close range, the tomial ‘tooth’ on each side of the cutting edge of the upper mandible, near the tip, is evident.

Nankeen Kestrel (Australian Kestrel) Falco cenchroides Field Guide p. 56, photos pp. 102–103. The specific name alludes to the bird’s similarity to the Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) of the Old World. The species is characterised by moderately long tarsi with coarsely reticulate scalation, and short toes.

Distribution The Nankeen Kestrel occurs throughout Australia, although rarely in Tasmania. It is resident on offshore islands, including Norfolk Island and Christmas Island.

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Stooping at intruder at nest

Migrating individuals reach New Guinea, where there is also an endemic subspecies (baru) in the montane grasslands, and other islands to the north as far as Java. Vagrants reach New Zealand.

Food and hunting The Nankeen Kestrel eats mostly invertebrates, particularly insects such as grasshoppers and crickets. It also eats small mammals (mostly rodents, occasionally rabbit kittens and microbats), birds up to starling and dove size and reptiles (mainly skinks and small dragons), especially when breeding, and occasionally scavenges on fresh carrion such as road-kill. It forages by high quartering and hovering or by still-hunting from a perch. It seizes prey on the ground by a dive or glide. It

hawks flying insects, but rarely chases small birds.

Behaviour The Nankeen Kestrel is a common roadside raptor, typically seen perched on fences, wires, utility poles, dead trees and shrubs, or hovering over paddocks. It is also common in treeless inland areas away from roads. In settled areas it commonly perches on buildings. Solitary birds perform a winnowing display flight with bursts of short rapid wing-beats and glides on drooped wings, accompanied by chattering. Sometimes the body is canted to produce a flash pattern. Members of a pair soar and ­perform mock attack-and-parry manoeuvres; they also greet at perches with a bowing display and occasionally allopreen. 153

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Food-passes are sometimes aerial, although usually on a perch near the nest. Kestrels defend their nests by swooping and striking at intruders.

Breeding The laying season is June to December in Australia. Pairs usually nest solitarily, sometimes semi-colonially in concentrated breeding habitat amid extensive hunting habitat, such as woodlots in farmland. The Kestrel nests in a variety of sites from sink-holes and mine shafts to tree hollows, old nests of other birds, cliffs and ledges on buildings or machinery, 2–31 m above ground. Most commonly it nests in tree hollows and on cliffs. The eggs are laid in a depression or scrape. The clutch size is usually three to five eggs, ranging from one to six. Incubation takes 28 days and the nestling period is 31–35 days. Breeding success has been measured as 68% nest success (of attempts), 66% hatching success (of eggs laid), 45% fledging success (of eggs laid) and 1.26 young fledged per attempt. In central Australia, success varied from 1.0 to 3.0 young per active nest, depending on seasonal conditions. Near Canberra, success is 1.6–2.1 young fledged per territory. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 2 months, after which young disperse or migrate widely (up to more than 800 km has been recorded, although usually within 50 km of the banding site). Young are sexually mature and sometimes breed at 1 year. Annual survival for adults is at least 60%.

Threats and conservation The Nankeen Kestrel is not globally or nationally threatened. It is widespread and 154

abundant throughout Australia, where it might have increased in numbers; it has benefited from clearing and the introduction of suitable prey. However, its atlas reporting rate declined by 44% nationally and by 52% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, although it was less likely to be recorded by the changed atlas methods. Use of the original atlas methods found a 20% decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, possibly drought-related and with some recovery since. Its reporting rate also declined locally by 50% in the Hunter Valley in the 16 years to 2014. The Kestrel has recently colonised Lord Howe, Norfolk and Christmas Islands and it might be colonising New Zealand. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. Potential threats include agricultural poisons (insecticides, rodenticides), collisions with vehicles and infrastructure, and land-clearing laws that allow destruction of hollow paddock trees.

Brown Falcon Falco berigora Field Guide p. 58, photos pp. 103–105. The specific name is an Aboriginal name for this falcon. The species is characterised by long legs and short toes with tarsal scalation that is scutellate in front and reticulate behind; the scales are large, rough and overlapping.

Characteristics The Brown Falcon is a medium-sized, rather scruffy, loose-plumaged falcon with a large head, rounded shoulders and long legs. It tends to be sluggish, perching conspicuously

Fal c o n s

Foraging on ground

with a pot-bellied profile. Its flapping flight is usually slow and heavy, with glides on raised wings, at times like a harrier. It also hovers, rather heavily compared with the Black-shouldered Kite or Nankeen Kestrel, although it can kite expertly in a strong headwind. The wing tips are blunt and flexible and the tail is rounded. In flight, the toes extend beyond the undertail coverts (compare Black Falcon).

Distribution The Brown Falcon occurs throughout Australia and (subspecies novaeguineae) in New Guinea.

Food and hunting The Brown Falcon eats mammals, birds, reptiles (including snakes), amphibians, arthropods, molluscs, carrion and (rarely) fish. It forages mostly by still-hunting from an exposed perch; also by quartering and hovering, low fast flight or soaring. It seizes prey on the ground by a glide, dive or direct flying attack that might become a short chase. It pursues insects on foot and it robs other raptors. It also follows fires, livestock and other ani-

mals, and farm machinery for flushed prey, and is credited with deliberately spreading tropical grassfires by carrying burning embers and dropping them in unburnt areas. Members of a pair sometimes hunt cooperatively.

Behaviour The Brown Falcon is a common roadside raptor, typically seen perched on fence posts, utility poles, shrubs or the tops of dead trees. It also perches on wires, balancing precariously while fanning its tail. In flight it often gives loud, raucous and crowing calls. At the start of the breeding season, males soar and perform erratic or zigzagging diving displays with flickering flight and cackling calls. Members of a pair soar together with laboured wingbeats and much squawking and cackling. The male might dive at the female, which rolls to present her talons, or they might perform a fast low-level chase with erratic flickering flight that culminates in perching and greeting with a bowing display, chattering calls and perhaps allopreening. Food presentation by the male takes place at a perch or aerially. 155

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Fast chasing flight in courtship

Breeding The laying season is April to September in northern Australia and August to October in the centre and south. Pairs breed solitarily. The Brown Falcon uses the old stick nest of another raptor or corvid, usually situated in a tree, rarely on a tree-fern, vine, artificial structure, cliff or termitarium, 4–30 m above the ground. The clutch size is usually two or three eggs, ranging from one to five. Incubation takes ~33 days and the nestling period is 36–42 days. Success has been measured variously as 48–95% nest success, 69% fledging success (of eggs laid), 50–100% fledging success (of chicks hatched), 1.77 young fledged per nest and 2.39 per successful nest, 2.2 young raised per clutch laid, 1.9–2.5 per successful nest and 1.0–1.8 young per territorial pair. In central Australia, success varied from 1.33 to 2.33 young per active nest, with few pairs breeding in a dry year. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 10 weeks, after which young disperse widely (up to more than 2000 km, though 156

usually less than 100 km). Some Tasmanian juveniles migrate to the mainland and some southern mainland birds migrate to the tropics. Age at first breeding is 3 years for males and 2 years for females, and annual adult survival is 60–80%. The oldest banded wild bird was aged 18 years; longevity in captivity is up to 20 years.

Threats and conservation The Brown Falcon is not globally or nationally threatened. It is common and widespread; it benefits from most agricultural activities, but is sometimes shot or trapped. Its atlas reporting rate declined by 38% nationally and by 41% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, although it was also less likely to be recorded by the changed atlas methods. Use of the original atlas methods found a 50% decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, which may have been drought-related and might have stabilised. The population has also declined greatly in the south-western Australian agricultural zone in the 50 years to

Fal c o n s

2000. Its eggshell thickness was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. Potential threats include rodenticides, poisoned carcasses, collisions with vehicles and infrastructure, and drowning in opentopped water tanks in the inland.

Australian Hobby (Little Falcon) Falco longipennis Field Guide p. 60, photo p. 105. The specific name (‘long feather’) alludes to the long wings (primary feathers). The species is characterised by a reticulate pattern of tarsal scalation and long toes.

Characteristics The Australian Hobby’s flight is often low and fast, zigzagging over or between trees or low over open ground. It is acrobatic in pursuit of small birds, bats and flying insects. It attacks fleeing birds in a series of short shallow stoops with towering flickering flight on the upswing. It often harasses large birds but is incapable of killing them. It seldom lands on the ground, preferring prey that it can eat on the wing or on a high perch.

Distribution The Australian Hobby occurs throughout Australia, although sparsely in Tasmania. Migrating individuals occur in New Guinea and occasionally the Moluccas, and occasional vagrants reach Lord Howe Island. An endemic resident subspecies (hanieli) occurs in the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Food and hunting The Australian Hobby eats small birds, insectivorous bats and flying insects. It captures mostly terrestrial flocking birds such as larks, pipits, grassfinches, doves and small parrots, but also aerial species such as swallows. In farmland and towns, its prey is mainly introduced sparrows and starlings. Most prey weighs less than 100 g, rarely more than 200 g. Hunting is diurnal, crepuscular and sometimes nocturnal by artificial light. The Australian Hobby forages by low fast flight, stillhunting from a prominent perch, or high quartering. It seizes prey in flight by a shallow stoop or direct flying attack that becomes a vigorous chase. It flushes birds by skimming the treetops, and insects by brushing foliage as it flies past. It hawks flying insects and occasionally steals mice from the Nankeen Kestrel. Members of a pair sometimes hunt cooperatively, and Hobbies hunt in association with Pied Butcherbirds (Cracticus nigrogularis).

Behaviour

Comparative silhouettes: Peregrine Falcon (a) soaring, (b) gliding; Australian Hobby (c) soaring, (d) gliding

The Australian Hobby is typically seen dashing past at low level, or perched on a prominence such as a high dead branch, television aerial, mast or tower. It is active well into dusk and even after dark. 157

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­ embers of a pair engage in noisy display M flights, with soaring, chasing and mock attack-and-parry accompanied by chittering calls. Food-passes from male to female are often aerial. Females also perform a bowing display on the nest, with loud chattering calls. Some birds breeding at high latitudes and altitudes are migratory, departing in autumn; there is a corresponding winter influx into the tropics.

Breeding The laying season is June to January, starting earlier in the tropics than elsewhere. Pairs nest solitarily. The Hobby uses an old or usurped stick nest of another species, typically a corvid, high (8–25 m) above the ground in the top of a tree, electricity pylon or telecommunications tower. The clutch size is usually two or three eggs, ranging from two to four. Incubation takes ~35 days and the nestling period is 34–38 days. Success was 2.75 young per year for a pair over 4 years, and 2.5 young per year for another pair over 2 years; successful broods are commonly of two or three young. In central Australia, success varied from zero in a dry year (when few pairs bred) to 0.98–2.92 young per active nest per year. The period of dependence after fledging lasts up to 3 months, after which young disperse or migrate widely (up to more than 900 km has been recorded). The oldest recovered banded bird was 10 years.

Threats and conservation The Australian Hobby is not globally or nationally threatened. It is fairly common and widespread, including in cities and

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towns. Its population is probably stable and it has benefited from introduced prey in some parts of Australia. Its atlas reporting rate was stable nationally and increased by 19% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000, with no apparent effect of the changed atlas survey methods. However, use of the original atlas methods found a 20% decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006, possibly droughtrelated. The thickness of its eggshells was reduced by DDT use in Australia and some local declines in breeding success probably occurred in southern agricultural areas. It is seldom shot.

Grey Falcon Falco hypoleucos Field Guide p. 62, photo p. 106. The specific name (‘under white’ or ‘less than white’) refers to the white or pale underparts. The species is characterised by finely reticulate tarsal scalation and long toes.

Characteristics The Grey Falcon has a bright orange-yellow cere, eye-ring and feet. In flight, the black wing tips (dorsal surface only) contrast with the grey upperparts and pale underparts. In soaring flight, the wings are held somewhat stiffly forwards, with slightly rounded tips. When perched, it appears broad-shouldered and short-legged.

Distribution The endemic Grey Falcon occurs sparsely in the interior and north of the Australian

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mainland, with several unconfirmed sightings of vagrants claimed for the savannas of southern New Guinea, not admitted by the latest authoritative checklist for that region.

Food and hunting The Grey Falcon eats mostly birds (especially pigeons, parrots and grassfinches) and a few small mammals and lizards. It forages by low fast flight, quartering and high soaring, or still-hunting from a perch. It seizes or strikes prey in flight by a stoop or direct flying attack, or glides from a perch to take prey on the ground. Members of a pair, or of a family group, sometimes hunt cooperatively.

Behaviour The Grey Falcon is a rarely seen inland bird. In its normal haunts it can be quiet, unobtrusive and difficult to detect. It might perch cryptically on a dead tree or among the foliage of a living tree. It can be seen in flight, which is swift and hobbylike, at treetop level, making sudden changes of direction and covering a wide area in search or pursuit of birds; it sometimes sweeps rapidly over waterholes at low level. In display, solitary birds or pairs soar and call, sometimes flying with exaggerated wing-beats or wings raised above the body, like a Brown Falcon. Male and female engage in mock attack-and-parry manoeuvres. Greeting at the nest is accompanied by clucking calls; food-passes take place aerially and on the nest or a perch. Pairs are usually resident, except in drought when they disperse to the coast or inland refuges. Some birds, possibly

mainly juveniles, might migrate or wander to winter in northern Australia.

Breeding The laying season is June to November. Pairs nest solitarily. The Grey Falcon uses the large stick nest of another bird, typically a corvid, in the top of an emergent living tree 9–25 m above ground or on a telecommunications tower up to 140 m above ground. The clutch size is usually two or three eggs, ranging from two to four. Incubation takes ~34–35 days and the nestling period is ~41–42 days. Successful broods can contain up to four fledglings, success apparently being higher in wet years and where the rabbit calicivirus and creation of reserves have reduced grazing pressure, thus favouring the Grey Falcon’s prey species. The period of dependence after fledging lasts at least 5 months; family groups persist into the next breeding season.

Threats and conservation The Grey Falcon is globally threatened. It is now considered vulnerable nationally (although is not yet so classified officially), and is classified as endangered in New South Wales and Victoria and as vulnerable in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is scarce and possibly declining. Its global population has been estimated as perhaps 350 breeding pairs, possibly less than 1000 individuals. The Grey Falcon’s atlas reporting rate was too low to detect a change nationally over the two decades to 2000. The apparent decline in reporting rate in New South Wales, by over 50% in

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the two decades to 2006, may reflect observer reluctance to visit the inland during drought. The Grey Falcon is affected by habitat clearance and degradation by overgrazing, and is possibly being replaced in the agricultural belt by the Peregrine Falcon, which benefits from the increase in Galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla) and feral Rock Doves (Columba livia). Individuals collide with powerlines and are killed by motor vehicles even in remote areas. The thickness of the Grey Falcon’s eggshells was reduced by DDT use in Australia; local declines in breeding success in the south are likely to have occurred. Eggs are (or were) illegally collected and nestlings might be taken for clandestine and illegal falconry activities. Because the Grey Falcon inhabits the hottest and driest parts of the continent, extreme climatic events associated with climate change (worsening droughts, heatwaves, cyclones, prey shortages) may be looming threats. A newly recognised threat is predation by feral cats, and perhaps foxes, on ground-roosting Grey Falcons in the arid zone. Conservation measures include the creation of public and private arid-zone reserves that support breeding Grey Falcons, collation and publication of preliminary studies on this Falcon’s ecology and the completion of a major research project on its ecology. Future conservation measures should include further population survey and research into this Falcon’s biology and ecology, particularly its physiological and behavioural capacity to adapt to the ramifications of climate change. Effective control of feral cats and foxes is also important, perhaps critical. 160

Black Falcon Falco subniger Field Guide p. 64, photo p. 106. The specific name (‘somewhat black’) alludes to the bird’s dark plumage, which is brown rather than truly black. The species is characterised by short tarsi with finely reticulate scalation and moderately long toes.

Characteristics The Black Falcon is a sleek, fierce, uniformly dark falcon with a small head, ‘square’ shoulders, pointed wings and short legs. It is highly aerial, often soars and is fast and agile in a stoop or pursuit. It soars for long periods without flapping, and stoops to level out and chase birds or snatch prey from the ground without landing. In flight, the feet fall short of the tips of the undertail coverts (compare Brown Falcon).

Distribution The endemic Black Falcon occurs over much of the Australian mainland except densely forested parts. It is sparse in the south-western third and the coastal south-east.

Comparative silhouettes: Brown Falcon (a) soaring, (b) gliding; Black Falcon (c) soaring, (d) gliding

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Food and hunting The Black Falcon eats mostly birds and mammals. It also eats reptiles, large insects and carrion. It takes young rabbits and rats, and birds such as pigeons, parrots, buttonquails, quails and starlings; rarely up to herons and waterfowl in size. It forages by low fast flight, quartering and high soaring, or still-hunting from a perch. It seizes or strikes prey in flight by a stoop or direct flying attack that becomes a vigorous chase. It hawks flying insects and glides from a perch to take prey on the ground. It often hunts cooperatively in pairs. It follows grass-fires, farm machinery, livestock, shooters and other raptors to seize flushed prey, and it robs other raptors.

Behaviour Probably spending much of the day on the wing, the Black Falcon is usually observed soaring lazily or perched on the top of a dead tree or, sometimes, a fence post. It does not perch on wires (compare Brown Falcon). Sometimes it can be seen vigorously harassing other raptors. In the breeding season, solitary birds or pairs soar and perform aerobatics with exaggerated wing-beats with canting of the body from side to side, diving and mock attackand-parry, or fast chases at low level. They perform an aerial ‘high winnowing’ fluttering display on raised wings, horizontal or oblique figure of eight flights, V-dives, and high soaring with prey conspicuously dangling from a foot. Courtship feeding occurs. In south-eastern Australia there is apparently some regular migratory movement northwards for the winter and south for the summer, and nomadism to local

abundances of quail or plagues of other prey species.

Breeding The laying season is May to November, usually July to September. Pairs nest solitarily. The Black Falcon uses the large stick nest of another raptor or corvid, in the top of a living or dead tree or rarely on an electricity pylon, 4–28 m above ground. The clutch size is usually three or four eggs, ranging from one to five. Incubation takes ~34 days and the nestling period is 38–43 days. Broods in South Australia averaged 2.5 nestlings and success in arid Victoria was 2.0 young per attempt. In inland New South Wales, four pairs had 25% nest success and 0.25 young fledged per attempt over 2 years, and 10 attempts produced 0.5–0.6 young per attempt (40% nest success) over 12 years. Two pairs in southern Victoria had 50% nest success and fledged 1.0 young per attempt over 2 years. In the sheep–wheat belt, up to half of juveniles may fail to reach independence, although on the subtropical coast broods of two (of four fledged), and of three and four fledglings, reached or approached independence. The period of dependence after fledging lasts 7–8 weeks. The oldest recovered banded bird was 12 years; longevity in captivity is up to 20 years.

Threats and conservation The Black Falcon is not recognised as nationally threatened, although its atlas reporting rate declined by 38% nationally (30–50% in the eastern sheep–wheat belt) over the two decades to 2000. This change would qualify it for classification as globally vulnerable, even if its generation time is 161

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taken as 6 or 7 years instead of the 10 years previously assumed for the similar Grey Falcon. Use of the original atlas methods found a 50% decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006. The Black Falcon is classified as vulnerable in Victoria and in New South Wales, where its population is estimated as perhaps 2000 breeding pairs. It is generally uncommon but widespread; it can be locally common in the arid zone in wet years, although it is usually scarce there. In agricultural areas it benefits from increased abundance of some prey types, including introduced species. However, in the sheep– wheat belt it is sometimes road-killed, and it is subject to competition for, and interference at, its nests by overabundant corvids and cockatoos. Other threats include: loss of tall riparian or floodplain eucalypts; loss of nests and nest trees to storms (through exposure of isolated trees in cleared landscapes); and land-clearing laws that allow destruction of paddock trees. The thickness of its eggshells was not significantly reduced by DDT use in Australia. Required conservation measures include ongoing population monitoring and research into the Black Falcon’s biology and ecology.

Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus Field Guide p. 66, photos p. 107. The specific name (‘wandering’) alludes to the migratory habits of northern hemisphere Peregrines, although Australian birds are sedentary as breeding adults. The species is characterised by short tarsi, large feet and long toes with reticulate tarsal scalation. 162

Aerobatic V dive in display

Characteristics In flight the Peregrine Falcon appears somewhat front-heavy with a large head and bill, deep chest and short tail. It flies and soars strongly at great heights, and stoops with closed wings and a compact bullet shape. It can seize or strike down large birds, and readily eats a large kill on the ground.

Distribution The cosmopolitan Peregrine Falcon occurs naturally throughout Australia, where it has had time to differentiate into an endemic subspecies (macropus, ‘large foot’). Migratory subspecies calidus (and perhaps japonensis) reach Australia, mainly in the north, though a few calidus reach the far south.

Food and hunting The Peregrine Falcon eats mostly flocking birds, particularly pigeons, parrots and starlings, but also larger species up to the size of herons, ibises and waterfowl; it

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commonly takes seabirds on the coast. It occasionally eats large insects and rarely fish, reptiles, small mammals or carrion. Its hunting is diurnal, crepuscular and sometimes nocturnal by artificial light. It forages by still-hunting from a high perch, by high quartering and soaring or by low fast flight. It seizes or strikes prey in flight by a long shallow or slanting stoop, or by a direct flying attack that can become a vigorous chase. It hawks flying insects, sometimes hunts cooperatively in pairs and flushes prey from cover.

Behaviour The Peregrine Falcon is typically seen in flight, often soaring, flying directly and purposefully at moderate heights, stooping or dashing past at low level with swishing wings. It perches on prominences such as cliffs, or on structures such as towers and buildings. Its flight appears masterful and controlled, even in windy conditions. Peregrines soar and perform diving and other aerobatics, and often harass larger birds. Members of a pair behave similarly in display flights, which culminate in courtship feeding (with some aerial food-passes) and mutual inspection of nest sites with bowing displays and calling.

Breeding The laying season is August to October. Pairs nest solitarily. The Peregrine Falcon uses a scrape on a cliff ledge or quarry face, the old stick nest of another raptor in a tree or on an electricity pylon, a tree hollow or the ledge of a structure such as a building, dam wall or silo. Height ranges from below-ground mine shafts to 150 m above ground. The clutch size is usually three or

four eggs, ranging from one to five. Incubation takes 33 days and the nestling period is 38–40 days. In south-eastern Australia 43–58% of nests were successful: 0.81–1.4 young fledged per pair per year, 1.83 per clutch started and 1.89–2.16 per successful nest around Canberra, depending on altitude; 1.3–1.57 young per pair, 2.0 per successful pair and 1.3–1.55 per clutch started in Victoria; 64% nest success in Tasmania; 2.67 young per attempt in northern Australia. In Victoria, clutch and brood size are largest in urban areas but juvenile survival and recruitment are higher in natural and rural areas. The period of dependence after fledging lasts 2–3 months. Young sometimes remain in the nest area for up to 8 months, after which they disperse widely (up to 500 km has been recorded, though usually ~30 km for males and 80 km for females). Annual survival is 36% for juveniles and an average of 94% for adults. Age at first breeding is 2 years for females and 3 years for males, and longevity in the wild is up to 15 years.

Threats and conservation The Peregrine Falcon is not globally or nationally threatened. In Australia it has increased in agricultural and urban areas with the increase in its food supply and its use of city buildings and other structures for nest sites; its atlas reporting rate increased by 34% in New South Wales over the two decades to 2000. Use of the original atlas methods found a slight decline in reporting rate in New South Wales in the two decades to 2006 that may have stabilised since the 1990s, with an apparently drought-induced decline in the west and increase in some coastal 163

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regions. The thickness of its eggshells was reduced by DDT use in Australia, probably sufficiently to cause local declines in breeding success in the south-east. Eggshell thickness has returned to normal following the ban on the use of DDT. In

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some areas the Peregrine Falcon is heavily (and illegally) persecuted by pigeon-fanciers. Human disturbance at nest sites, and the illegal taking of eggs and nestlings, cause local reduction in breeding success.

Threats, conservation and the future

Most Australian raptors face threats of some sort, commonly more than one acting in concert. All such threats ultimately stem from prevailing human attitudes to land, water and wildlife. Only the most abundant and adaptable species, such as the Blackshouldered Kite, Black Kite, Brown Falcon and Nankeen Kestrel, give no cause for concern at present. However, experience in Europe or North America warns that the situation even for common species could change in the future. For instance, between the two national bird atlases (1977–81 and 1998–2001), the reporting rates of the Brown Falcon and Nankeen Kestrel declined nationally by 38–44% and in New South Wales by 41–52%, although part of the decline might be related to the changed atlas survey methods. Use of the original atlas methods found a 50% and 20% decline, respectively, in reporting rates for these species in New South Wales over 1986–2006, possibly drought-related and stabilised or partly recovering since. At present, the most threatened Australian raptors are endemic species that occur nowhere else in the world – the Letter-winged Kite, Red Goshawk and Grey Falcon. The next most threatened species, of national concern though not listed in a ‘threatened’ category, are also endemics – the Black-breasted Buzzard and the scarce Black Falcon. This Buzzard is still common in northern Australia but the Black Falcon declined nationally, and particularly in south-eastern Australia (the Murray–Dar-

ling Basin and eastern sheep–wheat belt), over the 20 years to 2000 and continued to do so in New South Wales over the 20 years to 2006. Several other species declined nationally or regionally over the same period – the Brown Goshawk, Spotted Harrier, Wedge-tailed Eagle and Little Eagle (the last an endemic species) – or are known to be threatened and declining regionally (White-bellied Sea-Eagle). Conversely, the Osprey, Pacific Baza, Squaretailed Kite, Brahminy Kite, Grey Goshawk and Peregrine Falcon, formerly of concern (or so perceived), are stable or increasing in eastern Australia. The emerging pattern is that large sensitive species (eagles), some arid-zone species and endemic bird-hunters are the species that require attention.

Human impacts on habitat Destruction, degradation or disturbance of habitat, whether of nest sites or foraging habitat, is identified as a threat to most Australian raptors. ‘Habitat loss’ refers to deforestation in humid regions, clearing of semi-arid woodlands for marginal agriculture, overgrazing of arid and semi-arid rangelands, drainage of wetlands, impacts on estuarine and littoral habitats, and the recent upsurge of clearing for open-cut mines (notably coal) and coal-seam gas operations. It is the major factor in the plight of Australia’s threatened and near-threatened species and has reduced the regional populations of many others. Destruction of native vegetation is 165

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clearly the single most important threat to Australia’s raptor communities, and indeed to wildlife communities in general, and is a key element in the degradation of the land and water resources that sustain humanity. Vegetation clearance had largely ceased in the south but has resumed in the tropics with relaxation of clearing laws, and might continue or accelerate despite a recent reversal of changed laws that had permitted a clearing spree in Queensland since 2000 (including Red Goshawk habitat on Cape York Peninsula). The arid zone and tropical rangelands are being degraded by intensifying pastoral practices and by extensive, hot dry-season fires. Timber harvesting is often seen as a threat to forest-dependent raptors, particularly where logging occurs on a broad-scale clear-felling pattern and harvest occurs before the regrowth reaches full maturity. This is the case in Tasmania for the Grey Goshawk and endemic subspecies of the Wedge-tailed Eagle, which is sensitive to disturbance around the nest. However, there are indications that most Australian forest raptors are tolerant of logging on a selective or sustainedyield basis where some canopy is retained during cutting operations, adjacent blocks are not harvested simultaneously and there are reserves and corridors across the logging mosaic. Some diurnal raptors are likely to have benefited from recent efforts to conserve forest owls. Only the Red Goshawk requires oldgrowth forest characteristics, in lowland fertile forest, as nesting habitat. Forestry is therefore not a major issue in comparison with habitat clearance on other lands. 166

Nevertheless, logging is now intensifying in some states or regions. Fortunately, the focus and energies of the environmental movement have recently expanded to include inland woodlands, where the threats to raptors are greater. The environment is increasingly saturated with hazards for raptors and other wildlife. Notably, there are collision hazards such as barbed-wire fences, highspeed traffic, powerlines and windows, and other hazardous structures such as open-topped, sheer-sided water tanks (for livestock) in which birds can drown. Electrocution on power poles is also a hazard, particularly for large, long-lived, slowbreeding raptors whose wings can span the gaps between conductors. Tasmania has led the way in preventing and mitigating raptor electrocutions in Australia, but in other states power distribution structures of raptor-killing design seem to be proliferating, in apparent ignorance of the problem and of well-established mitigation techniques. Raptor-friendly designs exist and can be retrofitted at electrocution black spots, but there is little evidence of their use or even of official awareness in mainland Australia other than near (high-profile) Osprey nest platforms on the east coast. With the acceleration of environmental degradation in Australia, the increasing number of threatened species and ecological communities, and the uplisting of many to higher threat categories, it is clear that our environmental protection laws are failing, and that conservation funding is woefully inadequate. Some conservative state governments have even watered down such laws as existed.

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The prey base Many Australian raptors prey on mammals, which before European settlement would have been the many and varied marsupials and native rodents. Since the introduction of the European Rabbit, some raptor species have been assumed to be dependent on rabbits and to be adversely affected by efforts to control rabbits, such as by myxomatosis in the 1950s and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (calicivirus) in the 1990s. There is little if any evidence that myxomatosis was directly implicated in population declines of any raptor species, although clutch sizes of the Whistling Kite and Brown Goshawk reportedly decreased. A claim that the clutch size of the Wedge-tailed Eagle also decreased has been challenged, but the data for the other two species have not been subjected to similar scrutiny. Similarly, the calicivirus had no demonstrable, direct effect on the population index of any raptor species, as determined by a national raptor monitoring scheme conducted in the years before and after the virus established and greatly reduced the rabbit population in drier regions. It is likely that rabbit control permitted ecosystem recovery and hence the recovery or increase of certain prey species such as kangaroos and granivorous birds (some pigeons, parrots and finches). Some raptors have responded by changing their diet to include more native species and fewer rabbits, or by having greater breeding success since rabbit control. Conversely, ~30 of our native mammal species (10%) are now extinct, including nearly one-third of the terrestrial mammals in the ‘critical weight range’ (less

than 5 kg) in the inland. This situation amounts to one-third of global mammal extinctions in the past 200 years, and the worst mammal extinction rate of any country since 1600. Many more of our small mammals are now rare, threatened and restricted in range (e.g. confined to offshore islands). The main culprits are predation by foxes and feral cats, and European fire regimes in the rangelands that destroy the native mammals’ refuge. Desertification of the rangelands by overstocking is compounding the problem, and the mammal extinction wave is now affecting the tropical woodlands. On the other hand, decline of reptiles around cities is an unforeseen consequence of urban and industrial pollution that generates endocrine-disrupting chemicals that affect reproduction. And of course the plight of our woodland birds, wetland birds and shorebirds is very well known and publicised, with many species (and their habitats) threatened and declining. For example, including island territories, 124 bird species (12%) are in a threatened category, with half of these endangered or critically endangered. These processes are a symptom of the general extinction crisis that is affecting Australia’s (and indeed global) biodiversity, such that in the ‘Anthropocene’ era we are facing the next major global extinction event.

Pesticides and pollution DDT reduced the eggshell thickness of several aquatic and bird-eating raptors in Australia, probably enough to cause local breeding failure and population disruption in some areas, although there were no spectacular population crashes such as in 167

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the northern hemisphere. The Grey Falcon was one species affected in agricultural areas. The Red Goshawk was probably also affected in some areas, although there are insufficient egg samples to confirm it. The eggshell thickness of Australian Peregrine Falcons has returned to normal since the use of DDT was banned and the same presumably applies to the other affected species, with no lasting consequences for population levels. DDT is still used in New Guinea and other islands to the north, where migratory Australian raptors or their prey might ingest pesticides and acquire pesticide loads. Dieldrin, another organochlorine pesticide, could have caused direct raptor mortalities. Population effects, if any, are unknown and presumably have been reversed after its use was prohibited, as suggested by the recovery of the Osprey and Peregrine Falcon. Like DDT, dieldrin was banned from agricultural use in Australia because residues in beef affected export prospects, not because of official concern for its impact on wildlife. Secondary poisoning from rodenticides and from carbamate and organophosphate insecticides is likely to be an underestimated cause of raptor mortality in Australia. Raptors have ample opportunity to ingest poisoned rodents, birds or locusts during broad-scale baiting or spraying attempts to control plagues, and raptors have died en masse in Africa during pestcontrol programs. It is mainly the common Australian species that are affected. There may also be secondary poisoning from rabbit baits containing 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) or, more likely, pin-

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done. We know a little about the lethal effects of some of these poisons when fed directly to captive raptors, but next to nothing of their impact under field conditions on populations of raptors. The second-generation, single-dose rodenticides (notably brodifacoum) have been implicated in local population declines of raptors in tropical Australian canefields, and are likely to affect raptor populations in the agricultural belt generally, as well as in or near urban areas. Recent research reveals that these newer rodenticides are known, or inferred, to have significant effects on Australian raptor and owl numbers. Aquatic raptors, in particular, are likely to carry chemical pollutants acquired via the food chain from waterways affected by urban, industrial and agricultural discharge or runoff, as illustrated by the effect of DDT on the eggshell thickness of most Australian aquatic species. Chemicals with demonstrated toxic effects on raptors and on breeding success in other countries include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals, such as mercury. At present there are no known population effects on Australian raptors but the risk remains as long as Australia– the driest continent on Earth – mistreats its precious waterways. Some raptors might ingest lead shot or bullet fragments in prey tissues (notably of waterfowl) or in carrion, and so suffer lead poisoning. This risk is now revealed as a major concern for Australian raptors scavenging on shot carcasses, not to mention for humans eating shot game or kangaroo. Lead, entering food chains from air pollution in towns and cities, could contami-

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nate raptors in urban areas. It is now some years since the mandating of unleaded petrol – another responsible step would be the official mandating of lead-free ammunition, such as stainless steel shot and copper bullets. New chemical threats might replace the impacts of DDT and similar chemicals, replicating their effects on eggshell thickness or causing direct mortalities. New chemicals include brominated flame retardants used to fight forest fires, and veterinary anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) ingested by raptors scavenging on the carcasses of treated livestock and causing fatal kidney damage. Effects on raptors should serve as a warning of potential effects on human health.

Direct persecution Raptors are killed illegally by shooting, trapping, poisoning and other inhumane methods for perceived or alleged damage to livestock and domestic animals, and occasionally for the clandestine trade in stuffed specimens. The species most persecuted are the Wedge-tailed Eagle in sheepraising regions, the Brown Goshawk around poultry, pigeon lofts and aviaries, and the Peregrine Falcon by pigeon-fanciers, although few species are immune to destruction on suspicion. Persecution of eagles was intense in the past but knowledge, understanding and legal protection seem to be prevailing; some killing continues, as do calls for culling or for removal of legal protection. Persecution of, and campaigns against, Peregrine Falcons by pigeon-fanciers are based largely on misunderstanding and misinformation.

Illegal egg-collecting seems to be declining, although it might continue secretly at a low level. Historically, egg collection might have lowered breeding success in local populations of uncommon or rare species (which are the most soughtafter). However, without the historical egg collections we would not have proof of the effects of DDT on raptors (though eggcollecting has long since ceased to serve any useful purpose). Raptor enthusiasts should refrain from activities or disclosures that might enable anyone other than their most trusted colleagues to find raptor nests. Clandestine falconers or would-be falconers operate illegally in Australia, as revealed by occasional birds turning up with jesses on their legs or showing signs of mishandling or behaviour problems. Taking small numbers of wild raptors for falconry is unlikely to affect populations but the behaviour of escaped birds can bring raptors into disrepute. Of more concern is the potential for raptors to be smuggled to overseas falconers, as has been suspected in recent years. Trafficking may be one reason for continuing theft of eggs. The lesson for raptor enthusiasts is: be very careful whom you trust with knowledge of nests!

Windfarms In an age of increasing environmental consciousness and demand for sustainability and more benign forms of energy production, it seems ironic that ‘green’ energy is in conflict with wildlife. Birds and bats are killed or maimed by collisions or other interactions with windfarm

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turbine blades, and raptors and other large birds (notably eagles) are particularly susceptible. The problem is that windfarms are optimally sited precisely where raptors soar on ridge-lift. Birds sometimes fail to see the whirling blades if they are focused on prey or if the turbines are on a flight path but invisible against the background (in fog or low cloud). The principle is the same as for children and road sense – there is no second chance to learn from the experience if a bird is struck by a giant blade tip rotating at 300 km/h. In Australia, the problem is most acute for the endangered Tasmanian Wedgetailed Eagle and mostly relates to windfarm siting and eagle usage areas. Eagles (including White-bellied Sea-Eagles) die from collision with turbines in Tasmania and on the southern mainland, but there are few reported cases of other raptor species being killed at Australian windfarms. We also don’t know the effect on the eagle population, but the known collision rate is higher than predicted by mathematical modelling, based on assumed avoidance rates. The theoretical collision rate, based on injury profiles for other collision types, is higher again because of the likelihood that many raptors escape the turbine monitoring zone with ultimately fatal injuries, and die off site. Studies on the impact of Australian windfarms on eagles or their breeding productivity are few. One such study (on Wedge-tails and Sea-Eagles), for Tasmania, was flawed and so produced a false claim of eagle productivity being the same at and away from a windfarm, when it was actually higher away from the windfarm (rea-

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nalysis and commentary in Boobook for 2017 and 2018).

Research It is a truism that effective conservation depends on sound knowledge of the biology and ecological requirements of the subject species, in order to institute appropriate management strategies. It follows, then, that we should know or find out all we need to know about conserving Australia’s most threatened raptors. Those species are the country’s unique and taxonomically distinct endemics, some of which are in Australian or regionally endemic genera (some monotypic). The situation has greatly improved since 2000 and particularly since 2010, such that most of the threatened endemic species flagged in need of study in 2012 have now had several studies conducted on them (see Bibliography), or studies are still in progress (Red Goshawk) or awaiting publication (Grey Falcon, Letter-winged Kite). For the Letter-winged Kite, the (still unpublished) research conducted is now two decades old and, given the species’ current status, there is a need for new research and survey. Ironically, the species still awaiting thorough study are two common, readily accessible and observable ones of urban areas – the Collared Sparrowhawk and Australian Hobby. Regarding windfarms, we need more transparent and objective science on all aspects of the issue, but particularly on mitigating the impact of turbines on wildlife. We need conscientious, scientifically valid monitoring of the true wildlife toll at turbines and good science on the popula-

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tion effects of windfarm mortalities, particularly on threatened species. A recent breakthrough for the prevention of raptor strike is the use of a ‘smart’ system of remote cameras at windfarms to detect flying eagles up to a kilometre away, linked to an automated turbine shut-down when eagles approach.

Reserves Another truism is that national parks and other conservation reserves in Australia, particularly in the heavily settled south, are often delineated by soil-type boundaries. Nature reserves have traditionally been mostly the ‘useless’, rugged infertile land that was not wanted for anything else. Such areas have high wilderness and scenic values but relatively poor biodiversity values compared with the richer habitats on flat fertile land that people want to clear, log, drain or build on. Through recent attempts to conserve the large forest owls and to achieve a comprehensive, adequate and representative reserve system, the situation is improving; the focus has expanded to include temperate woodlands and the arid zone. In addition to the public reserve system, non-government conservation agencies have been acquiring and reserving private pastoral lands of high conservation value, notably in the inland and tropics. Reserves contribute to raptor conservation by protecting populations of common species and a few pairs of significant species, but in the most disturbed regions they are rarely large enough to preserve viable raptor populations within their boundaries. The large public and private reserves

in remote areas now include some valuable raptor habitats but further expansion of the reserve system, based on biological criteria and targeting remaining habitats with high biodiversity value, is needed. If raptors were used as flagship and indicator species for ecosystem conservation, a regional system of reserves conserving viable populations of significant raptor species would necessarily encompass other important environmental values – raptors are at the top of the food chain and require large areas to support them. Reserves alone cannot be relied upon to conserve raptors into the future. The fate of habitats on land outside reserve boundaries is likely to be more important, as reserves become islands and threatening processes continue around them. On disturbed lands, buffer zones and other protection measures around active nests, such as restricting disturbance during the breeding season, are effective provided that adequate foraging habitat is also conserved within energy-efficient commuting distance. Raptors that depend on forest and woodland will need habitat connectivity in all respects (latitudinally, longitudinally and altitudinally) to help them adapt to climate change.

Habitat restoration One of the best things that we can do for raptors that depend on forest and woodland is to regenerate some indigenous tree cover on extensively treeless farmland. This would help to restore many other environmental values, not least the economic productivity of areas that are overcleared and suffering various forms of land

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degradation. Rivers and streams should receive particular attention, because they are important to raptors and other wildlife. A national scheme to win back the waterways would have far-reaching benefits for the human population as well as for wildlife. Elements of such a scheme should include fencing creeks and rivers (with wildlife-friendly, non-barbed materials) to exclude stock, and regeneration of the native riparian vegetation. Increasing the number of shelterbelts and woodlots of locally indigenous trees throughout agricultural and urban lands, properly constructed as functioning windbreaks including a shrub layer with appropriate profiles, would be a great benefit. The Landcare movement gives cause for hope. Similarly, tree-planting schemes for carbon offsets should be of great benefit, provided there is sufficient ecological input into what species are planted where, for maximum biodiversity benefit and reconstruction of the original flora communities. Focused habitat enhancement, such as provision of nesting sites, can help, particularly where natural nesting sites have been lost from the landscape. Ospreys have nested on artificial platforms, Kestrels have bred in nest-boxes and Peregrines have bred on suitably prepared ledges on city buildings or other infrastructure. Such hands-on approaches are popular overseas where habitat destruction has left little option, but in Australia we can still work to prevent loss of natural nesting sites in the first place, particularly as the country’s most threatened species are unlikely to accept artificial sites. There is also a danger that the willingness of Ospreys, for instance, to nest on platforms will be used 172

as an excuse for allowing their tree sites to be destroyed.

Pest management Integrated pest management involves seeking to control agricultural pests with minimal use of hazardous chemicals. The approach is to understand the pest’s ecology and its natural enemies, in order to use pesticides sparingly and strategically at the most appropriate stage of the pest’s lifecycle and to take full advantage of natural and biological controls. The benefits to raptors are obvious (ingesting less pesticide in prey), but raptors could also play a positive role in the pest-control operation, for instance through human provision of hunting perches in areas affected by pests. Farmers would benefit by not having to purchase expensive chemicals in large amounts. There would also be a reduced chance of pest resistance, and hence greater crop yields. The use of a popular but toxic anticoagulant rodenticide (brodifacoum, active ingredient in Talon and Klerat) has been curtailed in some agricultural areas. There are raptor-friendly rodenticides that carry only a low risk of secondary poisoning if used according to instructions in an integrated operation that combines removal of the pest’s shelter, trapping, collection and disposal of poisoned rodents, and so forth. The most notable is coumatetralyl, sold as Racumin by Bayer. It is widely used and promoted in Africa and elsewhere as safe, effective and resistance-free. Apart from safety considerations relating to proximity to urban and peri-urban areas (meaning risk to children and pets), 1080 is to be preferred over pindone for

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rabbit control because pindone carries a higher risk of secondary poisoning. The reason is that 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) is a naturally occurring plant poison in the Australian flora, to which native fauna are much more resistant than are introduced placental pests such as rabbits and pigs.

Rehabilitation There has been a trend for rehabilitation and captive breeding to be promoted as the saviour of raptors. We don’t (and never did) need captive breeding to save the Peregrine Falcon in Australia, and patching up a few individuals and returning them to the wild will not save the Wedge-tailed Eagle. Misplaced focus on popular or charismatic species could hinder attempts to conserve species that are genuinely threatened. The role and benefits of raptor rehabilitation in Australia need to be seen in perspective. Most raptor cases brought in for treatment are caused by human agency, therefore rehabilitation slightly compensates for the human impact on raptors. However, Australian raptor numbers are such that rehabilitation does not make a significant difference to wild population levels. The real benefits are education, public relations, knowledge and the perfection of rehabilitation techniques on common species for future use on rare species if necessary. Involving the public, face to face with rehabilitated birds, is probably the most powerful educational tool if it is done properly with sufficient coverage of the real issues. Much the same could be said of captive breeding and release of offspring, of which

there is very little in Australia. Releases would not significantly increase the wild population of any Australian raptor species, at least until we know what is limiting the population and have reversed the threatening processes. Releasing birds is pointless if there is no vacant habitat in which they can live. However, captive breeding does enable crippled birds to contribute their genes to wild populations, and provides knowledge and skills. Captive breeding should be done only under scientific supervision, using unreleasable crippled birds as parent stock, if Australia’s rarest species are to benefit from it. Present indications are that taking viable eggs or birds from the wild would not be outweighed by subsequent population increases from release of captive offspring. Raptor rehabilitation has advanced significantly in recent years, with adoption of better facilities and procedures such as the circular (doughnut-shaped) flight aviary and judicious use of certain falconry techniques, combined with radio-tracking or satellite-tracking of released birds. Examples include: ●●

●●

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Australian Raptor Care and Conservation www.australianraptorcareandconservation.com (or contact the enquiry line [email protected]) Raptor Rehabilitation Association of Western Australia www.rrawa.com Raptor Refuge (Tasmania) www.raptorrefuge.com.au (or contact [email protected]).

Raptors as umbrella species Raptors, especially the larger species, have been characterised as ‘canaries in the 173

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global coalmine’; that is, they are sentinel species, indicators of human effects and ecosystem stability. Raptor ecologists have long inferred that large raptors – as apex predators with large home ranges, and considering the Eltonian pyramid of numbers – are obvious candidates for umbrella species in ecosystem conservation. That is, raptor breeding populations will naturally occur in biodiversity hotspots that support large and diverse prey populations. There has long been much resistance to such use of apex predators, on the grounds of bias towards charismatic vertebrates. Science has confirmed the role of raptors as umbrella species, although not without reactionary argument and detraction (largely unwarranted). Overseas research has established that biodiversity levels and faunal abundance are higher at sites occupied by breeding raptors than at unoccupied sites in comparable habitat. Networks of protected sites constructed on the basis of breeding raptors were found to be more efficient than networks based on other species, so enabling higher biodiversity coverage from fewer reserves. There is thus a link between the strategic utilisation of top predators and ecosystem-level conservation: conservation of apex predators can deliver broader biodiversity benefits.

The future Twenty years ago I wrote the following. ‘An optimistic scenario is that over the next few years humanity will progress to a more sensitive role in the Australian environment: that of steward. We will repair our land and waterways, stabilise our population, and reduce our consumption and pollution. We will manage our farmlands to 174

maintain functioning ecosystems on them, and adopt the principles of integrated pest control. We will have a system of true biosphere reserves dedicated for their high biodiversity values. We will understand and appreciate our raptors, conduct research on our most threatened species, and put in place appropriate management strategies to conserve them. The alternative scenario is to carry on much as we are, degrading our environment, and watch the disappearance of many of our raptors. The loss will start with our unique Australian endemics – the present generation has already effectively lost the Red Goshawk from New South Wales.’ Ten years ago I wrote, ‘The future for owls in mainland Australia and Tasmania … looks fairly bright.’ How rapidly things can change! Only part of that optimistic vision has been realised, mostly with respect to understanding and studying Australia’s most threatened raptors. We have made progress with the Landcare movement, repairing some of the land and waterways and restoring biodiversity on some rural lands. However, we are lagging on biosphere reserves and otherwise it’s been business as usual, with further human population growth and increasing consumption, pollution and environmental degradation (witness the moonscapes created in pursuit of coal under productive farmlands or irreplaceable habitats of high conservation value, the mushrooming of windfarms and coal-seam gas wells, the mooted freeholding of Crown lands with high conservation value, expanding urban sprawl, and so on). Lately, BioBanking or offsetting has been promoted as a way of valuing biodiversity and guaranteeing off-

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sets, in perpetuity, for loss of habitats to development. However, the difficulty is to ensure that offsets trade like for like, which often they don’t or can’t. Two years ago I wrote that, since 2012, things have mostly become worse (if that were possible), noting that, ‘With the anticonservation backlash and the rise of neoconservative governments, we have seen a litany of assaults: on the environment (even public lands), agricultural land and aquifers; on pro-environment legislation, departments, NGOs and funding; on standards in biodiversity impact assessment and forestry practices; on science and the media; on climate action and renewable energy; and on citizens’ freedom to chal-

lenge ecologically bad decisions or make tax-deductible donations of our choice.’ Concomitantly, some of Australia’s endemic raptors and other special fauna are declining, as predicted; some, such as several of our iconic parrots, to probable extinction in the wild in our lifetimes. For example, the Red Goshawk has apparently now disappeared from southern Queensland as well as from New South Wales. But who would have thought that the Little Eagle or Black Falcon would become threatened in south-eastern Australia? These declines indicate that all is not well – we have a long way to go to guarantee a liveable environment for our descendants. It will be decided on our watch.

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Glossary

allopreen: Preening (grooming) another bird (in raptors, usually the partner’s head). alulae: The small pointed feathers attached to the ‘thumb’ of the wing beyond the carpal joint. anticoagulant: A poison that works by preventing blood from clotting, thus causing internal bleeding. bigamous: Having two mates at a time. biodiversity: Biological diversity or richness; the total number of plant and animal species living in an area. cache: To hide surplus food, for example in crevices, for later retrieval. carpal: The joint at the bend of the wing, corresponding with the wrist in humans. cere: The soft fleshy skin at the base of the bill, in which the nostrils of raptors are situated. convergence: Evolution, by unrelated animals, towards a similar physical form. corvid: A member of the family Corvidae, in Australia crows and ravens (genus Corvus). coverts: Feathers overlying a specified part of a bird’s anatomy, such as secondary coverts. crepuscular: Active at dawn and dusk. dichromatic: Two plumage types within a species, such as sexual dichromatism (male and female are coloured differently). dihedral: The formation of the wings in gliding flight when the wings are raised above the horizontal plane, in a shallow V. dimorphic: Having two physical forms, such as plumage dimorphism (two lifelong plumage types within a species, not related to age or gender) or sexual dimorphism (male and female of different size).

food chain, from producers (plants) through primary consumers (herbivores) to higher order consumers (e.g. carnivores), species abundance and biomass must necessarily be lower than in the preceding level. emarginated: Having narrow inner and outer webs on the ends of the primary feathers, thus producing separated feathers and slotted tips on the fully spread wings. endemic: Unique to a particular region. extralimital: Outside the normal distribution of a species. fledging: First flight from the nest. flight feathers: The remiges (primary and secondary wing feathers). gliding: Passive forward or downward nonflapping flight on extended wings. Gondwana: The ancient southern supercontinent, consisting of Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, South America and Antarctica, before they were separated by continental drift. hovering: Maintaining a stationary position in relation to the ground with active flapping flight head into wind, by matching forward velocity to wind velocity. immature plumage: A plumage stage between juvenile and fully adult. indigenous: Occurring naturally in a specified region. irruption: Mass movement of a species to an area. juvenile plumage: The first plumage on leaving the nest.

diurnal: Active by day.

kiting: Maintaining a stationary position in relation to the ground by wind-hanging without active flapping.

Eltonian pyramid of numbers: The ecological principle that at each successive level up the

malar stripe: The dark streak extending below the eye. 177

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mantling: To spread the wings in threat or to cover food protectively.

rodenticide: A poison for killing rodents (rats and mice).

megapodes: Mound-building, fowl-like birds (Megapodiidae) including the Australian Brush-turkey and Malleefowl.

scapulars: The feathers on the sides of the back, attached to the shoulder blades and overlying the inner parts of the wings.

monogamous: Having one mate.

scutellate: Large plate-like or shield-like overlapping scales on the tarsi.

monotypic: Having one member; that is, a monotypic genus contains a single species, a monotypic species has no geographical races (subspecies). morph: A lifelong plumage type, unrelated to age or gender. nape: The back of the neck. nocturnal: Active by night. occipital: The back of the head, where it joins the nape. orbital: The skin surrounding the eye. piscivorous: Fish-eating. polyandrous: A female mated to more than one male. polygynous: A male mated to more than one female. polymorphic: Having more than one plumage morph. primaries: The long flight-feathers on the outer half of the wing, attached to the ‘hand’. quartering: Repeatedly searching an area thoroughly, in flight. radiation: Evolutionary divergence of related species into a variety of physical forms. remiges: The main wing feathers (primaries and secondaries). reticulate: A mosaic pattern of small scales on the tarsi.

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secondaries: The short flight-feathers on the inner half of the wing, attached to the ‘arm’. secondary poisoning: Poisoning by eating an animal that was itself poisoned, thus ingesting the toxin in that animal’s tissues. soaring: Gaining height in non-flapping flight, on fully spread wings, by riding thermal currents or updraughts. spicules: Small spiny projections on the undersides of the feet. stooping: A diving attack with closed wings, in which contact with flying prey is made in the air. tarsus: The lower half of the visible part of a bird’s leg, below the ankle joint. The true knee is hidden by flank feathers. tomial tooth: A projection on the cutting edge of the upper mandible. transect: Traversing an area on a straight course. Wallacea: The Indonesian islands east of Wallace’s Line, which is part of the Australasian faunal region; that is, Sulawesi, the Moluccas and the Lesser Sunda Islands. zygodactylous: The foot arrangement having two toes pointing forwards and two backwards (unlike the usual bird arrangement of three forwards and one backwards).

Bibliography

Only the most recent books and papers, published since (or omitted from) the first edition of this guide, are listed here. Also not listed are publications on the Wedgetailed Eagle, pre-2005, that were listed in Penny Olsen’s book (Wedge-tailed Eagle, CSIRO Publishing, 2005). Some recent taxonomic papers that supersede those in the second edition of this guide are substituted herein. Material in the Handbook of Western Australian Birds (WA Museum, 1998) is supplementary to HANZAB. Readers are strongly encouraged to trace back from the latest papers to previous key papers that formed the basis for the HANZAB accounts. For ease of use, the bibliography is categorised by subject and species. Additional literature, including recent conference abstracts, is listed in Boobook (newsletter of the ARA/ BARG) since 2004. Boobook also contains detailed commentaries on issues such as DNA taxonomy, windfarms, raptor research and conservation directions, eagles and lambs, and falcons and racing pigeons. Books Bird DA, Bildstein KL (Eds) (2007) Raptor Research and Management Techniques. Hancock House, Surrey, BC, Canada. Cooper RM, McAllan IAW, Curtis BR (2014) An Atlas of the Birds of New South Wales & the Australian Capital Territory, Volume 1: Emu to Plains-wanderer. NSW Bird Atlassers, Sydney.

Czechura GV, Field C (2007) Raptors of Southern Queensland. Queensland Museum, Brisbane. Debus S (2017) Australasian Eagles and Eaglelike Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. de Lucas M, Janss GFE, Ferrer M (Eds) (2007) Birds and Wind Farms: Risk Assessment and Mitigation. Quercus, Madrid, Spain. Ferguson-Lees J, Christie DA (2001) Raptors of the World. Helm, London, UK. Ferguson-Lees J, Christie DA (2005) Raptors of the World: A Field Guide. Helm, London, UK. Garnett S, Szabo J, Dutson G (2011) The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2010. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. Hollands D (2003) Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of Australia. 2nd edn. Bloomings Books, Melbourne. Johnstone RE, Storr GM (1998) Handbook of Western Australian Birds. Vol. 1. Western Australian Museum, Perth. Malan G (Ed.) (2009) Raptor Survey and Monitoring Techniques: A Field Guide for African Birds of Prey. Briza Publications, Pretoria, South Africa. Olsen J (2014) Australian High Country Raptors. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. Olsen P (1995) Australian Birds of Prey. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. Olsen P (2015) Australian Predators of the Sky. National Library of Australia, Canberra. Seaton R, Gilfedder M, Debus S (2019) Australian Birds of Prey in Flight: A Photographic Guide. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne. Tingay RE, Katzner TE (Eds) (2010) The Eagle Watchers. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY, USA.

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Taxonomic (DNA) studies Barrowclough GF, Groth JG, Lai JE, Tsang SM (2014) The phylogenetic relationships of the endemic genera of Australo-Papuan hawks. The Journal of Raptor Research 48, 36–43. doi:10.3356/JRR-13-33.1 Breman FC, Jordeans K, Sonet G, Nagy ZT, Van Houdt J, Louette M (2013) DNA barcoding and evolutionary relationships in Accipiter Brisson, 1760 (Aves, Falconiformes: Accipitridae) with a focus on African and Eurasian representatives. Journal of Ornithology 154, 265–287. doi:10.1007/ s10336-012-0892-5 Clark WS (2012) The eagle genus Hieraaetus is distinct from Aquila, with comments on the name Ayres’ Eagle. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 132, 295–298. Fuchs J, Johnson JA, Mindell DA (2015) Rapid diversification of falcons (Aves: Falconidae) due to expansion of open habitats in the late Miocene. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 82, 166–182. doi:10.1016/j.ympev. 2014.08.010 Gamauf A, Haring E (2004) Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of honey-buzzards (genera Pernis and Henicopernis). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 42, 145–153. doi:10.1111/j.14390469.2004.00250.x Gregory S, Dickinson E (2012) Clanga has priority over Aquiloides (or how to drop a clanger). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 132, 135.

Lerner HRL, Mindell DP (2005) Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37, 327–346. doi:10.1016/j. ympev.2005.04.010 Lerner H, Christidis L, Gamauf A, Griffiths C, Haring E, Huddleston CJ et al. (2016) Phylogeny and new taxonomy of the booted eagles (Accipitriformes: Aquilinae). Zootaxa 4216, 301–320. doi:1011646/zoo taxa.4216.4.1 Oatley G, Simmons RE, Fuchs J (2015) A molecular phylogeny of the harriers (Circus, Accipitridae) indicate the role of long distance dispersal and migration in diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 85, 150–160. doi:10.1016/j.ympev. 2015.01.013 Wink M, Heidrich P, Fentzloff C (1996) A phylogeny of sea-eagles (genus Haliaeetus) based on nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b gene. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 24, 783–791. doi:10.1016/ S0305-1978(96)00049-X Raptor community studies Aumann T (2001) The structure of raptor assemblages in riparian environments in the south-west of the Northern Territory, Australia. Emu 101, 293–304. doi:10.1071/ MU00072 Aumann T (2001) Breeding biology of raptors in riparian environments in the south-west of the Northern Territory, Australia. Emu 101, 305–315. doi:10.1071/MU00073

Griffiths CS, Barrowclough GF, Groth JG, Mertz LA (2007) Phylogeny, diversity, and classification of the Accipitridae based on DNA sequences of the RAG-1 exon. Journal of Avian Biology 38, 587–602. doi:10.1111/ j.0908-8857.2007.03971.x

Aumann T (2001) Habitat use, temporal activity patterns and foraging behaviour of raptors in the south-west of the Northern Territory, Australia. Wildlife Research 28, 365–378. doi:10.1071/WR99091

Johnson JA, Watson RT, Mindell DR (2005) Prioritizing species conservation: does the Cape Verde Kite exist? Proceedings. Biological Sciences 272, 1365–1371. doi:10.1098/ rspb.2005.3098

Aumann T (2001) An intraspecific and interspecific comparison of raptor diets in the south-west of the Northern Territory, Australia. Wildlife Research 28, 379–393. doi:10.1071/WR99092

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Corbett L, Hertog T, Estbergs J (2014) Diet of 25 sympatric raptors at Kapalga, Northern Territory, Australia 1979–89, with data on prey availability. Corella 38, 81–94.

Clancy GP (2005) Feeding behaviour of the Osprey Pandion haliaetus on the north coast of New South Wales. Corella 29, 91–96.

Falkenberg ID, Hurley VG, Stevenson E (2000) The impact of rabbit calicivirus disease on raptor reproductive success in the Strzelecki Desert, South Australia: a preliminary analysis. In Raptors at Risk. (Eds RD Chancellor and B-U Meyburg) pp. 535–542. Hancock House, Surrey, BC, Canada and World Working Group on Birds of Prey and Owls, Berlin, Germany.

Clancy GP (2006) The breeding biology of the Osprey Pandion haliaetus on the north coast of New South Wales. Corella 30, 1–8.

Fuentes E, Olsen J (2005) Breeding status of birds of prey living in the Canberra region 2002–03. Canberra Bird Notes 30, 65–72. Gosper DG (2007) A survey of diurnal raptors in the Richmond River district, New South Wales, 1996–99. Corella 31, 1–5. Gosper D, Holmes G (2008) A survey of diurnal raptors in the wet–dry tropics, northern Australia. Corella 32, 71–75. Olsen J, Fuentes E, Rose AB, Trost S (2006) Food and hunting of eight breeding raptors near Canberra, 1990–1994. Australian Field Ornithology 23, 77–95. Starr M, Starr MJ, Wilson SC (2004) Raptor populations at an agricultural site featuring sustainable farming practices near Sydney, New South Wales. Australian Field Ornithology 21, 67–71. Sutton AJG (2011) Observations on the raptor community of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Australian Field Ornithology 28, 129–132. Osprey Bischoff T (2001) Aspects of breeding of the Osprey Pandion haliaetus on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Australian Bird Watcher 19, 88–93. Clancy GP (2005) The diet of the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) on the north coast of New South Wales. Emu 105, 87–91. doi:10.1071/ MU04056

Dennis T (2004) Conservation status of the White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Osprey and Peregrine Falcon on western Eyre Peninsula and adjacent offshore islands in South Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 34, 222–228. Dennis T (2007) Distribution and status of the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in South Australia. Emu 107, 294–299. doi:10.1071/ MU07009 Dennis T (2007) Reproductive activity in the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Emu 107, 300–307. doi:10.1071/MU07010 Dennis TE, Baxter CI (2006) The status of the White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Osprey on Kangaroo Island in 2005. South Australian Ornithologist 35, 47–51. Dennis T, Brooks A (2014) A recent record of Osprey nesting in mangroves in South Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 40, 31–33. Dennis TE, Clancy GP (2014) The status of the Osprey (Pandion haliaetus cristatus) in Australia. The Journal of Raptor Research 48, 408–414. doi:10.3356/JRR-OSPR-14-01.1 Dennis TE, Detmar SA, Brooks AV, Dennis HM (2011) Distribution and status of White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster, and Eastern Osprey, Pandion cristatus, populations in South Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 37, 1–16. Detmar SA, Dennis TE (2018) A review of Osprey distribution and population stability in South Australia. South Australian Ornithologist 43, 38–54. Kennard S, Kennard D (2006) The breeding cycle of a pair of Ospreys Pandion haliaetus

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in northern coastal New South Wales. Australian Field Ornithology 23, 165–176. Monti F, Duriez O, Arnal V, Dominici J-M, Sforzi A, Fusani L et al. (2015) Being cosmopolitan: Evolutionary history and phylogeography of a specialized raptor, the Osprey Pandion haliaetus. BMC Evolutionary Biology 15, 255 doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0535-6 Rose AB (2000) Observations on Ospreys Pandion haliaetus breeding on the lower north coast of New South Wales. Australian Bird Watcher 18, 274–279. Black-shouldered Kite Barnes T (2005) Foraging, habitat use and nesting of the Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris in the Australian Capital Territory. Australian Field Ornithology 22, 58–66. Bisset J (2012) A horde of Black-shouldered Kites. Canberra Bird Notes 36, 161–162. Debus SJS, Olde GS, Marshall N, Meyer J, Rose AB (2006) Foraging, breeding behaviour and diet of a family of Black-shouldered Kites Elanus axillaris near Tamworth, New South Wales. Australian Field Ornithology 23, 130–143. Negro JJ, Pertoldi C, Randi E, Ferrero JJ, López-Caballero JJ, Rivera D et al. (2006) Convergent evolution of the Elanus kites and owls. The Journal of Raptor Research 40, 222–225. doi:10.3356/0892-1016(2006)40[22 2:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2 Read DG (2005) Observations on parent/ young behaviour in a pair of Black-shouldered Kites Elanus axillaris. Australian Field Ornithology 22, 109–121. Tsang LR (2012) Facultative zygodactyly in the Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris. Australian Field Ornithology 29, 89–92. Tsang LR, Rose AB, Fuentes EJ, Olsen J, Trost S, McDonald PG (2017) A comparison of the diets of the Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris and Nankeen Kestrel Falco cenchroides in the Canberra region. Corella 41, 27–31.

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Letter-winged Kite Aumann T, Bellchambers K (1999) Letterwinged Kites Elanus scriptus in the southwest of the Northern Territory, 1994–95. Australian Bird Watcher 18, 68–74. Dooley S (2015) The final chapter: Is the script for the Letter-winged Kite drawing to its conclusion? Australian Birdlife 4(4), 34–39. Negro JJ, Pertoldi C, Randi E, Ferrero JJ, López-Caballero JJ, Rivera D et al. (2006) Convergent evolution of the Elanus kites and owls. The Journal of Raptor Research 40, 222–225. doi:10.3356/0892-1016(2006)40[22 2:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2 Pavey CR, Eldridge SR, Heywood M (2008) Population dynamics and prey selection of native and introduced predators during a rodent outbreak in arid Australia. Journal of Mammalogy 89, 674–683. doi:10.1644/07MAMM-A-168R.1 Pavey CR, Gorman J, Heywood M (2008) Dietary overlap between the nocturnal Letterwinged Kite Elanus scriptus and the Barn Owl Tyto alba during a rodent outbreak in arid Australia. Journal of Arid Environments 72, 2282–2286. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv. 2008.07.013 Reed M, Reed A (2012) A breeding record of the Letter-winged Kite in central-western Queensland. The Sunbird 42, 52–60. Square-tailed Kite Barnes CP, Zillmann EE, Rose AB (1999) Breeding behaviour and diet of the Squaretailed Kite Lophoictinia isura in south-eastern Queensland. Australian Bird Watcher 18, 133–152. Barnes CP, Zillmann EE, Rose AB, Debus SJS (2001) Diet and biology of Square-tailed Kites Lophoictinia isura breeding in southeastern Queensland: nest-building to postfledging. Australian Bird Watcher 19, 28–43. Bischoff T, Lutter H, Debus S (2000) Squaretailed Kites breeding on the mid-north

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Index

For each entry, the first page number refers to the Field Guide section, the second (bold) page number refers to the photograph(s), and the third (italicised) page number refers to the Handbook section. Accipiter cirrocephalus 40, 94, 135 fasciatus 38, 93, 133 novaehollandiae 42, 95–96, 136 Aquila audax 50, 100, 146 gurneyi 52 Aviceda subcristata 24, 87–88, 121 Baza, Pacific  24, 87–88, 121 Buzzard, Black-breasted  22, 86–87, 119 Circus approximans  48, 98–99, 143 assimilis 46, 97–98, 141 Eagle, Gurney’s 52 Little 54, 101–102, 149 Wedge-tailed 50, 100, 146 Elanus axillaris 16, 84–85, 113 scriptus 18, 85, 114 Erythrotriochis radiatus 44, 96, 138 Falco cenchroides 56, 102–103, 152 berigora 58, 103–105, 154

hypoleucos  62, 106, 158 longipennis 60, 105, 157 peregrinus 66, 107, 162 subniger 64, 106, 160 Falcon, Black 64, 106, 160 Brown 58, 103–105, 154 Grey 62, 106, 158 Peregrine 66, 107, 162 Goshawk, Brown 38, 93, 133 Grey 42, 95–96, 136 Red  44, 96, 138 Haliaeetus leucogaster 34, 91–92, 129 Haliastur indus 32, 90–91, 128 sphenurus 30, 89, 126 Hamirostra melanosternon 22, 86–87, 119 Harrier, Spotted 46, 97–98, 141 Swamp 48, 98–99, 143 Hieraaetus morphnoides 54, 101– 102, 149 Hobby, Australian  60, 105, 157 Honey-Buzzard, Oriental  26

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Kestrel, Nankeen  56, 102–103, 152 Kite, Black 28, 88–89, 125 Black-shouldered 16, 84–85, 113 Brahminy 32, 90–91, 128 Letter-winged 18, 85, 114 Square-tailed 20, 86, 118 Whistling 30, 89, 126

Osprey  14, 84, 111

Lophoictinia isura 20, 86, 118

Vagrant species  69

Milvus migrans 28, 88–89, 125

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Pandion haliaetus 14, 84, 111 Pernis ptilorhynchus 26 Sea-Eagle, White-bellied  34, 91–92, 129 Sparrowhawk, Collared  40, 94, 135