Jerdon's Baza

About the Jerdon's Baza

Jerdon's baza (Aviceda jerdoni) is a moderate sized brown hawk with a thin white-tipped black crest usually held erect. It is found in South-east Asia. It inhabits foothills in the terai and is rarer in evergreen forests and tea estates.

The common name and Latin binomial commemorate the surgeon-naturalist Thomas C. Jerdon. It is about 41–48 cm long with a wingspan of 117 cm (46 in). The bird weighs around 350 grams (.77 lb). It is confusable with crested goshawk or the changeable hawk-eagle in flight, but can be distinguished by the longer upright crest, very broad and rounded paddle-shaped wings and mostly plain and pale underparts. It has a white chin and a bold black mesial stripe.

Several subspecies are recognized within its large distribution range. These include: A. j. jerdoni (Blyth, 1842) – Sikkim to Assam, Burma, Sumatra A. j. ceylonensis (Legge, 1876) – South India and Sri Lanka A. j. borneensis (Sharpe, 1893) – Borneo

A. j. magnirostris (Kaup, 1847) – Luzon, Mindanao A. j. leucopias (Sharpe, 1888) – Romblon, Samar, Palawan A. j. celebensis (Schlegel, 1873) It is a resident of the terai of North India and foothills of the Eastern Himalayas... Wikipedia →