Species › Birds

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Accipiter nisus

Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Presence in the Strait: Resident
Abundance: common
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Gavilán común

51% of its open observations in the area are from September.

Photograph: YCapelle, Public domain, vía Wikimedia Commons

Length: 28 cm
Wingspan: 60–75 cm
Weight: 150–275 g

Presence in the Strait

Common resident in forests (>25 pairs), more abundant during migration and winter.

Identification

Small raptor. Adult males have slate-grey back and rufous barring on underparts. Females have less grey upperparts and white underparts with brown-grey barring; due to their size and shape, may be confused with the male Goshawk or the Common Cuckoo. The male is much smaller than the female. Juveniles have dark brown upperparts with coarser barring below.

Movements

Migrant (>2,000 post. migr.) with peaks in 1st hf. April and 2nd hf. September.

Ring recoveries

Germany (1) and one bird ringed in Ceuta on prenuptial migration on 16.04.94, controlled in France 15 days later, 1,287 Km. away.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

51 %

Peak in September. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 25 February 1966
Latest record: 12 September 2025

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: LC · Least concern · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Annex I of the Birds Directive

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

1990–1999

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Where they come from

1 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

Germany1

See the journey on the map

Same genus in the Strait

Northern Goshawk48–48 cm · Resident

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
GBIF taxon key: 2480637

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: YCapelle, Public domain, vía Wikimedia Commons
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery