Yen Yi Tan
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yenyitan@nus.edu.sg
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Publication Biodiversity Record: First specimen of the Eurasian sparrowhawk from Singapore(National University of Singapore, 2022-12-28) Yen Yi Tan; Yong Chee Keita Sin; Tan, Siong Kiat; Lim, Kok Peng Kelvin; BIOLOGICAL SCIENCESA dead female example (Figs. 1–3) was discovered at ground level along the northern façade of a concrete highrise building by a member of the public and collected by the observer. The specimen appeared intact without visible external injuries, bleeding, decomposition or scavenger damage. It probably died on the same morning. The plumage features and morphometrics suggest a juvenile Eurasian sparrowhawk, which is a vagrant to the South-east Asian region (Ferguson-Lees & Christie, 2001; DeCandido et al., 2014; Eaton et al., 2021). This species is significantly larger than the common Japanese sparrowhawk, Accipiter gularis (for size comparison, see Fig. 2). This is only the sixth confirmed record of the Eurasian sparrowhawk in Singapore (Singapore Birds Project, 2022), and is the first record in the country to be represented by a preserved specimen. From our observations, the Eurasian sparrowhawk carcass had a disarticulated neck, and was discovered in a location with multiple tall glass buildings. These suggest that window collision was likely the cause of death. Research into urban avian mortality in Southeast Asia is still in its infancy (Low et al., 2017; Tan et al., 2017) and continued efforts to collate such data will be critical for a better understanding of the phenomenon.