Gabar Goshawk

The gabar goshawk is polymorphic and occurs in two distinct forms which fluctuate in relative abundance across the geographic range of the species. The more frequent, paler form has mostly grey upperparts with a conspicuous, white rump and white and grey barring on the chest, thighs and underwings, and a dark grey, barred tail. In contrast, the less frequent form, which accounts on average for approximately 25 percent of the overall population, is almost completely black. In both forms of adult the eyes are dark, and the legs are long and the cere is red. The cere and the legs are yellow in immatures and the plumage is generally browner, with the pale birds having untidier barring on the chest than the adult. The females are significantly larger than the males, the male's weigh 90 – 173g and the females 167 – 240g. The body length is 28–36 cm and the wingspan 63 cm.

The gabar goshawk is found in sub-Saharan Africa, extending to Arabian Peninsula. These subspecies are currently recognised:

M. g. aequatorius: highlands of Ethiopia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and northern Mozambique M. g. gabar: southern Angola to Zambia, Mozambique, and South Africa M. g. niger: Senegambia to Sudan, northern Ethiopia and southwestern Arabia