The Tiny Sparrow-hawk is found in tropical and sub-tropical forested areas in southern Central America and northern South America. Rare species in Suriname with some species collected.

Its preferred habitat is lowland forest edge and woodland up to about 1,800 metres. It also frequents the canopy of rainforest and high secondary growth.

Incomplerte data with only records of observed young or stick carrying.

The Tiny Sparrow-hawk feeds on small birds - mostly passerines, although it is, in Costa Rica, the only avian predator on humming-birds. Its method of hunting consists mainly of hiding and waiting for its prey, soon to launch itself quickly and to attack small birds. It can learn which are the regular feeding places of the humming-birds and can try to capture them by means of an ambush, or when flying quickly between the feeding places.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 8,600,000 km2. The global population has been estimated to be less than 10,000 individuals (Ferguson-Lees et al. 2001), but this is likely to be overly pessimistic, and the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population size criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., less than 10,000 mature individuals in conjunction with appropriate decline rates and subpopulation qualifiers). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Not known

article number 1 Title
POSSIBLE SPECIALIZATION FOR HUMMINGBIRD-HUNTING IN THE TINY HAWK
Author(s): F. GARY STILES
Abstract: This paper describes the hunting tactics of the Tiny Hawk, Accipiter superciliosus fontanieri, in a Costa Rican rain forest, where it appears to be a hummingbird specialist. Three tactics were used b..[more]..
Source: The Auk 95: 550-553. July 1978
download full text (pdf)