Shikra

Fascinating facts about the Shikra

• At just 26–30 cm long, this tiny raptor hunts rodents, squirrels and even small bats at dusk. Its short, rounded wings let it zip through dense foliage where larger hawks would stumble. Seeing it dart through garden trees reminds us how size isn’t everything in the sky.
• When the breeding season hits India’s summer (March-June), a pair builds a platform nest of twigs and even metal wires, much like a crow’s. Both sexes haul the sticks with their feet, and if the clutch of 3-4 eggs is lost they can lay up to seven replacements in one season. That tenacity shows how flexible these birds are when raising their young.
• One subspecies lives up to 1,400 m (4,590 ft) in the Himalayas, while another roams the savannas of West Africa, where it migrates seasonally. This range from high mountains to low plains illustrates the species’ ability to thrive in wildly different climates.
• The bird’s sharp two-note call – a higher “pee-wee” followed by a longer note – is often copied by drongos, which use the mimicry to scare other birds and steal their food. The shikra’s own alarm call becomes a tool for clever thieves in the forest.
• First described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788/89 and placed in the genus Falco, it was shuffled to Accipiter before a 2024 DNA study moved it into the resurrected genus Tachyspiza. This taxonomic journey reveals how modern genetics can rewrite centuries-old classifications.

At a glance

About the Shikra

The shikra (Tachyspiza badia) is a diminutive raptor, measuring just 26–30 cm from head to tail, with short, rounded wings and a long, narrow tail that flicks in characteristic flap-and-glide bursts. Adults display a muted palette: grey upperparts, a whitish underside streaked with fine rufous bars, and a dark, narrow throat stripe. Males flash a bright red iris, while females bear a softer yellow-orange eye and slightly browner plumage, the females also being marginally larger. In flight, the male’s underwing coverts catch a pale sheen and blackish wing tips, whereas the central tail feathers remain unbanded, marked only by a dark terminal band. Juveniles are more heavily streaked, their wings narrowly barred and tails edged with thin dark bands, before transitioning to the adult’s cleaner look. Their habitat range is astonishingly broad, spanning forests, farmlands and even bustling urban gardens across Asia and Africa. Typically solitary or in pairs, shikras patrol the canopy with a sharp two-note “pee-wee” call that sharpens to a rapid “kik-ki … kik-ki” when they wheel overhead. Their diet is a versatile cocktail of rodents such as Meriones hurrianae, squirrels, small birds, lizards, occasional snakes, insects, and even the occasional bat caught at dusk. A surprising behavior emerges when they descend to the ground to gorge on emergent winged termites, and on rare occasions they will scavenge carrion, as documented when a male was observed feeding on a dead chick at a nest.

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