A pigeon-sized hawk with a conspicuous pale eyebrow marking.
Its pale stripe above the eye is more prominent than that of the similar Japanese sparrowhawk.
In rural Czechia, researchers recorded 35 Eurasian Sparrowhawk nests over three breeding seasons: 13 in 2020, 15 in 2021 and seven in 2022. The nests were regularly spaced across the study forests. Every nest was in a conifer, low in the living crown and close to the trunk.
Nest-to-edge distances ranged from 43 to 629 metres, averaging 198 metres. No nests were found in forest patches smaller than 23 hectares. Neighbouring nests were 1.06 to 4.32 kilometres apart, with a mean of 2.12 kilometres. Some nest surroundings contained many broad-leaved trees, but tree composition around nests did not differ significantly from randomly selected points. Researchers compared forest size and structure, nest concealment and prey-bird abundance across three spatial scales.
Japan Ministry of the Environment Fifth Red List (birds) · Near Threatened (NT), Japanese subspecies only · Japan; Accipiter nisus nisosimilis
The Japan Ministry of the Environment’s 2026 bird Red List classifies the Japanese subspecies of Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus nisosimilis) as Near Threatened (NT). This entry applies to the Japanese subspecies, not the full species or global population. The list was published on 17 March 2026; it gives no individual assessment date or population trend.