"Sax" the Little Sparrowhawk, KBOP Trust, Naivasha
Watercolor, 30″ x 22″, on Arches rough 300lb SOLD
(Giclée signed and numbered, limited edition prints and poster prints available)
The little sparrowhawk (Accipiter minullus)
About Little Sparrowhawks
The little sparrowhawk is a species of Afrotropical bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is the smallest member of the genus Accipiter and forms a superspecies with the red-thighed sparrowhawk (Accipiter erythropus).
“A tiny, secretive and inconspicuous hawk that flies quickly and nimbly within woodland thickets and forest while hunting small birds, other vertebrates, and insects. It has a very distinctive white rump and two pale spots on the upper tail. Similarly-plumaged African Goshawk is much larger; Red-thighed Sparrowhawk is similar in size but prefers dense rainforest, is more rufous below, and generally lacks barring on the underside.”
– Ebird
“The Shrika is almost identical but has red/orange eyes and a shorter middle toe.”
– Simon Thompsett, KBOP Trust
Range Map of the Little Sparrowhawk
“Sax” the Little Sparrowhawk from KBOPT
Sax at the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust.
Sax is a male, with striking russet plumage around his throat and along his flanks, with beautiful barring under his wings and belly. From Shiv Kapila, co-founder of Kenya Bird of Prey Trust, in Naivasha:
“Saxx was found at Elsamere on the ground as a very young chick. She had been blown out of a nest during a storm. I raised her then trained her for a couple of months. She then went up to Simon for further training and hunting. He released her after about 3 or 4 months.”
Little Sparrowhawks, while not endangered are not very common in Kenya, and can be hard to spot, preferring lightly wooded areas where their barred markings make for good camouflage.
Simon Thompsett, from KBOPT was kind enough to send me photos of Sax, as a juvenile then as an adult.
Sax as a juvenile, inspired the pose
Adult Sax, showing his beautiful smoky plumage
About the painting:
I was inspired to paint a little sparrowhawk after seeing their larger cousin, the African goshawk at Kenya Bird of Prey Trust and then seeing its close relative and near-lookalike, the shrika on the website of KBOPT’s earlier incarnation, the Naivasha Owl Centre. I fell in love with the smoky grey head, soft gradation from grey to russet bars to white belly, and the doll-like facial features of this fierce little bird.
I loved the pose of Sax in flight and tried (not totally successfully) to capture that motion as if the bird had just alighted on a mossy forest tree limb.
I used the same techniques and approach that I had begun employing in my earlier bird and wildlife paintings, using a bloomed wet on wet background panel, bleeding color gradations wet into wet and using dry brush for extra texture. There is some gouache over-painting, which I typically am religious about avoiding it but this particular painting seemed to need it.