Shikra eating a pigeon

A shikra eating a pigeon on an Indian Drumstick tree. The Shikra or Little Banded Goshawk (Accipiter badius) is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae and it also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards and harriers. The Shikra is a widespread resident breeder throughout south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It nests in trees, building a new nest each year. It lays 3--7 eggs. The adult Shikra has pale grey upper parts and is white, barred reddish below. Its hunting technique is very similar to that of other small hawks such as the Sparrowhawk or the Sharp-shinned Hawk, relying on surprise as it flies from a hidden perch or flicks over a bush to catch its prey unaware.The prey is lizards, dragonflies, and small birds and mammals. This footage is part of the professionally-shot stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and Digital Betacam. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... wfi @ vsnl.com and [email protected].