Red goshawk

Red Goshawk
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Falconiformes (or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Erythrotriorchis
Species:	E. radiatus
Binomial name
Erythrotriorchis radiatus (Latham, 1802)

The Red Goshawk (Erythrotriorchis radiatus) is probably the rarest Australian bird of prey. It is found mainly in the savanna woodlands of northern Australia, particularly near watercourses. It takes a broad range of live prey, mostly birds.

Taxonomy

The Red Goshawk used to be regarded as a very large member of the goshawk subfamily, Accipitridae, but it is now believed that the resemblance to these other birds is convergent. Experts now group the Red Goshawk with the superficially dissimilar Black-breasted Buzzard and Square-tailed Kite as one of the Australasian old endemic raptors. It is believed that the ancestors of these birds, possibly together with a handful of species from South-east Asia and Africa, occupied Gondwana and over the millennia have diverged into their current forms.

Description

Plumage is generally rufous; on the head streaked with black and white, having more white on the face and throat; on the upper surfaces (body and upperwings) marked with black. Flight feathers and tail are barred grey and rufous-brown, dark above and light below. Underside (belly and underwing coverts) are rufous with slight black ticking. The female has a paler belly than the male. Juveniles (first year) have less streaking on the head.

Adults have yellow eyes (brown to yellow in the male); juveniles brown.

Wings are long, broad and fingered at the tips; the tail is long and broad. It has a robust bill, slight brow ridge, and very heavy feet with bare tarsi having scutellate scale pattern.

Important Bird Areas

Sites identified by BirdLife International as being important for Red Goshawk conservation are Lilyvale in Far North Queensland, Kakadu Savanna and the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory, and Mornington Sanctuary in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Conservation Status and Threats

The Red Goshawk is listed nationally as vulnerable under the federal Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 EPBC and is listed as endangered in Queensland and New South Wales and vulnerable in the Northern Territory. It is also listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES.

The species is sparsely dispersed throughout its range across Australia but recent significant declines have been cause for concern, the main threats and causes of declines in eastern Australia have been attributed to clearing of forests and woodlands for agriculture which leads to degradation of remaining habitat, reduced available prey and reduction in suitable nesting sites.

The protection of remaining intact habitat and the recovery of suitable habitat through rehabilitation through regulation on land clearing is an important conservation management tool for their survival.