POSSIBLE SPECIALIZATION FOR HUMMINGBIRD-HUNTING IN THE TINY HAWK

This paper describes the hunting tactics of the Tiny Hawk, Accipiter superciliosusfontanieri, in a Costa Rican rain forest, where it appears to be a hummingbird specialist. Three tactics were used by the hawks to hunt hummingbirds: typical Accipiter still-hunting (probably not specifically for hummingbirds), waiting in ambush by a hummingbird’s regular territorial perch, and flying rapidly between the perches of several territorial hummingbirds. Relative use of the latter two tactics may reflect the local density of territorial hummingbirds

F. GARY STILES, The Auk 95: 550-553. July 1978