“Accidentally muddied my gear while watching the Purple Heron so, while that is in the shop, using my older equipment. I spotted a pair of Crested Goshawk (Accipiter trivirgatus indicus) in courtship. In the past when I have seen the classical aerial displays I have assumed these were territorial (see an old video from me HERE, and this OBI composite HERE. Wells (1999) suggests that there are more likely to be pair interaction.
“On this occasion I managed to observe it for 20 minutes and I am now certain it is courtship behaviour.
“This pair has at least 3 large nests at heights of 12-14 meters in a clump of very tall trees. I saw the pair perform the classical aerial display of head down, drooped wings which are fluttered and lowered tail with coverts fluffed out (above). This was done from perch to perch between the tree tops.
“Post 1 is an example (images were tough due to density of trees) and were most were done by the male. In addition, there were frantic chasing bouts that occurred at high speed between the trees. I also got the impression they were choosing/deciding on which nest to use as they would stop at different nest with vocalisation.
“An example of one of the massive nests is shown above (not in use yet). Although this was an urban location, I suspect my presence/watching did impair or mute behaviour, so I limited my time there.”
Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
7th January 2018
Location: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Habitat: Urban environment
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