by Craig Brelsford
Founder, shanghaibirding.com
Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus has attempted to breed in inner-city Shanghai. The photos below show a pair mating at Zhongshan Park. Birder Wāng Jìn Róng (汪进荣), the best chronicler of Crested Goshawk in Shanghai, captured the moment.
Lying 5 km (3.1 mi.) west of People’s Square, Zhongshan Park (31.223705, 121.415994) is a spot of green surrounded by miles of cold grey city. The park is more than a hundred years old. Many of the trees there are giants, as in the old-growth forests to which Crested Goshawk is adapted. The environment is far from classic Crested Goshawk habitat, but apparently it is reminiscent enough to allow the species to gain a foothold.
RESOURCES ON CRESTED GOSHAWK
View my earlier posts on Crested Goshawk:
Crested Goshawk Invades Shanghai: Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus indicus has sunk its talons into Shanghai. Records of Crested Goshawk have come from all four seasons and at various locations throughout the city, among them Zhongshan Park and Century Park. The species is only rarely noted in the less forested coastal areas of the city-province, for example Cape Nanhui.
Crested Goshawk at Shanghai’s Century Park: shanghaibirding.com founder Craig Brelsford explains why the Accipter he saw at Shanghai’s Century Park was Crested Goshawk. The short, broad wings, pinched at the base, were a major clue. Much straighter are the wings of Chinese Sparrowhawk A. soloensis and Japanese Sparrowhawk A. gularis.
See also:
• The shanghaibirding.com Tag Page on Crested Goshawk, with dramatic photos by Wāng Jìn Róng of a Crested Goshawk devouring a Pallas’s Squirrel at Shanghai’s Zhongshan Park
• The shanghaibirding.com Guide to Birding Urban Shanghai
Great pictures! This species is common in the Sheshan-Tianma Mountain hill system, so it probably nests somewhere in those forested areas. Qingpu and Songjiang dstricts both have fairly extensive patches of forest, and these birds probably don’t stay in one particular patch, but hunt wherever there is enough woods.
After reading your informative post on crested goshawks in Zhongshan Park, Shanghai, I thought I’d ask if you or your contacts have seen/know of peregrine falcons using urban habitats in Chinese cities. I live/work in London and spend most of my leisure time watching peregrines (am lucky enough to have two pairs near my flat and another two near my office), and have also had the pleasure of watching them in other cities, including some slightly odd locations such as Singapore. I’m intrigued by how peregrines may (or may not) have adapted to urban habitats in the huge cities of the PRC, and would be grateful for any info/observations you might like to provide.