African Goshawk

The African Goshawk is a relatively large African hawk, the largest next to the Black Hawk. Its plumage is very variable, even within a single subspecies, with variations mainly in the background colour and the extension and colour of the bars on the lower parts. This species displays the pronounced sexual dimorphism found in Accipiter. The female is a third bigger than the male.
Typically, the adult male has steel-grey upperparts and finely barred underparts in grey-brown, reddish-brown and even bright red against a white or reddish background. Its eyes are yellow, the cere on its beak is not bright yellow as in other hawks, but yellow-green, yellowish or even grey-green. The tail is dark grey with some distant pale grey bars and sometimes white in the centre. The legs are yellow. Some males have russet or red flanks, with no stripes.
The female has dark brown upperparts and its underparts are heavily barred in brown against a white background. Its cere is the same as the male's.
The immature bird resembles the female, but its underside, instead of being barred, is heavily speckled with brown on a pale background, and the eyes are brown.
There is a melanistic, entirely dark form of this species with pale bars on the upper tail and in flight contrasts between its pale primary remiges and dark coverts.
The race pembaensis is smaller, pale grey above and reddish or rosy-red underneath.