Chinese sparrowhawk

The Chinese sparrowhawk (Tachyspiza soloensis) is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It was formally described in 1821 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield as Falco soloensis, with its type locality on the Solo River on the Indonesian island of Java, and for a long time it was placed in the large genus Accipiter. A 2024 molecular phylogenetic study confirmed that Accipiter was polyphyletic, so the genus Tachyspiza, introduced by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1844, was resurrected to hold this species and 26 others. The species is monotypic, with no subspecies recognised. Adults measure 30 to 36 centimetres in length, the female being larger than the male. Both sexes have prominent black wing tips. The male is grey above and white below with red eyes, while the female has rufous on the breast and underwing coverts and yellow eyes. It breeds in southeastern China, Taiwan, Korea and Siberia and winters in Indonesia and the Philippines, living mainly in forest and sometimes at forest edges. In the breeding range it feeds mainly on frogs, taking lizards and other small invertebrates as well, and on its wintering grounds it feeds heavily on cicadas.