Red goshawk

The red goshawk (Erythrotriorchis radiatus) is probably the rarest Australian bird of prey. It is found mainly in the savanna woodlands of northern Australia, particularly near watercourses. It takes a broad range of live prey, mostly birds.

Taxonomy

The red goshawk was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name Falco radiatus.

The species used to be regarded as a very large member of the goshawk subfamily, Accipitrinae, but it is now believed that the resemblance to these other birds is convergent. Experts now group the red goshawk with the superficially dissimilar black-breasted buzzard Hamirostra melanosternon and square-tailed kite Lophoictinia isura as one of the Australasian old endemic raptors. It is believed that the ancestors of these birds, possibly together with a handful of species from South-east Asia and Africa, occupied Gondwana and over millions of years have diverged into their current forms.

Gene sequencing studies have found a relationship between Hamirostra and Lophoictinia, however samples had not been obtained from Erythrotriorchis.