Profile
In flight
Birds of Prey
Besra
Tachyspiza virgata
- uncommon
- 48 km/h
- Least Concern
A small forest sparrowhawk that drops from a shaded branch in a single explosive burst. More often glimpsed than identified, leaving only the silence of the songbirds behind it.
- Population
- widely distributed but generally uncommon and patchy; quiet, forest-interior raptor
- Habitat
- broadleaf and evergreen forest, forested foothills, bamboo, and well-wooded ravines from the Himalayas through South and Southeast Asia
- Diet
- small forest birds, lizards, large insects, occasional small mammals — ambush hunter
- Size
- 0.3 m
- Wingspan
- 0.55 m
