Shikra (Accipter badius)
Image Copyright Suthanai Krupanitch
Last Observed: April 2016 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Suthanai Krupanich
The Shikra is a small bird of prey with a wide distribution across Asia and Africa. It is also called the little banded goshawk – but frankly that’s a rubbish name and Shikra is way more enigmatic and appropriate for this tough little raptor. It grows up to 30 cm in length.
The shikra was a popular bird with falconers in India and Pakistan because it could be trained very easily and was able to capture much larger birds such as partridges, crows and peafowl.
The word Shikari may also be used in English in the sense of “hunter”. In “The return of Sherlock Holmes” by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes says: “I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old a shikari” (The Penguin complete Sherlock Holmes, 1981, pp. 492, 494).
