Hawks, including the accipitrines, are believed to have vision several times sharper than humans, in part because of the great number of photoreceptor cells in their retinas (up to 1,000,000 per square mm, against 200,000 for humans), a very high number of nerves connecting the receptors to the brain, and an indented fovea, which magnifies the central portion of the visual field.
Several genera or species formerly classified in this subfamily, such as Micronisus, Urotriorchis, Microspizias, and Circus, have since been moved out of Accipitrinae following phylogenetic studies. In contrast, other genera such as Lophospiza have since been reclassified into Accipitrinae.[1][2]
^Starikov, I. J.; Wink, M. (2020). "Starikov, I. J., & Wink, M. (2020). Old and Cosmopolite: Molecular Phylogeny of Tropical–Subtropical Kites (Aves: Elaninae) with Taxonomic Implications". Diversity. 12 (9). doi:10.3390/d12090327.
^Sangster, George; Kirwan, Guy M.; Fuchs, Jérôme; Dickinson, Edward C.; Elliott, Andy; Gregory, Steven M. S. (2021-02-08). "A new genus for the tiny hawk Accipiter superciliosus and semicollared hawk A. collaris (Aves: Accipitridae), with comments on the generic name for the crested goshawk A. trivirgatus and Sulawesi goshawk A. griseiceps". Vertebrate Zoology. 71: 419–424. doi:10.3897/vz.71.e67501. ISSN 2625-8498.
External linksedit
Hawk videos on the Internet Bird Collection
Hawk photos taken on the central coast of California.
