Melierax poliopterus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The eastern (pale) chanting goshawk (Melierax poliopterus), or Somali chanting goshawk, is a bird of prey of East Africa. This species is intermediate between the smaller dark chanting goshawk (widespread to the west and south) and the pale chanting goshawk (southern Africa) in colour, size, and leg length, but not in range. It has often been considered a subspecies of the latter, but because of this disparity between geography and characters, it is now considered a separate species, as agreed by many authorities.
This species averages 49 to 55 cm (19 to 22 in) long, with a wingspan of 96 to 110 cm (38 to 43 in) and a tail length of 20 to 25 cm (7.9 to 9.8 in). Males average 85 percent the size of females. Like the other chanting goshawks, it resembles an accipiter but the tail is shorter and graduated (the feathers increase in length from the edges to the center), and the wings are broader.
Adults have grey head, neck, breast, and upperparts, except for the white or lightly barred uppertail coverts. The belly has narrow grey and white bars and the undertail coverts are white. The belly and wing linings are white, the secondaries are light grey... Wikipedia →
Call0:44
Tanzania · 2019
© Peter Boesman · XC510246 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Call0:15
Ethiopia · 2013
© Samuel Jones · XC140470 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
Recording0:03
Kenya · 2023
© Yvonne A. de Jong · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 7 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 11 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 12 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 13 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 14 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 15 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 16 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 17 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 18 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Chanting-Goshawk sighting in Serengeti National Park on a given day, based on 164 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 222nd most-seen of the 469 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–April, August and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Chanting-Goshawk in Serengeti National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, May–July and September–October, the lowest months. Those are among Serengeti National Park's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Chanting-Goshawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 18
Of the 18 parks where we can rate Eastern Chanting-Goshawk sightings, Serengeti National Park ranks 11th at about 10%. The best odds are in Meru National Park (Kenya, about 50%), Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 50%) and Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Chanting-Goshawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Serengeti National Park (164 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
