page_title: Levant sparrowhawk
section_title: Breeding
hierarchical_section_title: Levant sparrowhawk / Behaviour / Breeding
caption_attribution_description: English&#x3a;&#32; Eggs of Levant sparrowhawk collection of Jacques Perrin de Brichambaut.Français&#x202f;&#x3a;&#32; Œufs d'Epervier à pieds courts collection Jacques Perrin de Brichambaut.
context_page_description: The Levant sparrowhawk is a small bird of prey. It measures 32–38 cm in length with a wingspan of 65–75 cm. The female is larger than the male, but the difference is not as marked as with Eurasian sparrowhawk. The adult male is blue-grey above, with dark wingtips, and barred reddish below.
  The adult female is slate-grey above with darkish wingtips. She is barred reddish brown below, and may show a dark throat line. The juvenile is dark brown above and has dark-streaked underparts. It shows a dark throat line. It breeds in forests from Greece and the Balkans east to southern Russia. It is migratory, wintering from Egypt across to southwestern Iran. It will migrate in large flocks, unlike the more widespread Eurasian sparrowhawk.
  The Levant sparrowhawk nests in trees, building a new nest, lined with green leaves, each year. The normal clutch is 3–5 eggs. It hunts small birds, insects, rodents, and lizards in woodland or semi-desert areas, relying on surprise as it flies from a perch to catch its prey unaware.
  This bird is a small raptor with short broad wings and a longish tail, both adaptations to manoeuvring through trees.
context_section_description: The Levant sparrowhawk breeds from mid-May through August. The pair is territorial while breeding, often performing high-circling aerial displays. The female is thought to make the nest. She builds a new one every year, a small structure of twigs on a branch or in a fork of a broad-leaved tree. The nest tree is often near running water, typically in open woodland, on a forest edge, or in an isolated clump of trees. The nest, which measures up to 30 cm (12 in) across and 15 cm (5.9 in) deep, is lined with green leaves. Most nests are located between 5–10 m (16–33 ft) above the ground, but they have been found as low as 4 m (13 ft) and as high as 20 m (66 ft).
  The female lays a clutch of 2–5 eggs which she alone incubates for 30–35 days. Hatching is asynchronous. Nestlings fledge some 40–45 days after hatching, and are independent about 15 days later.
caption: Accipiter brevipes - MHNT
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