About Eurasian Goshawk:
- It is a large, powerful bird of prey belonging to the Accipitridae family, which also includes other extant diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards and harriers.
- Scientific Name: Accipiter gentilis
- It is widely distributed across Europe, Asia, and parts of North America (where it is simply called the Northern Goshawk).
- Habitat: Found in dense forests, particularly coniferous and mixed woodlands.
- Features:
- It has relatively short, broad wings and a long tail.
- It is blue-grey above or brownish-grey with dark barring or streaking over a grey or white base color below, but Asian subspecies in particular range from nearly white overall to nearly black above.
- Females are significantly larger than males.
- Conservation Status:
- IUCN Red List: Least Concern
Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary:
- It is located in the Thane District of Maharashtra, 90 km northeast of Mumbai in the foothills of the Western Ghats.
- The sanctuary is spread over an area of 320 sq. km.
- It has two rivers, the Tansa and Vaitarna, and the sanctuary gets its name from the former, which divides the sanctuary into two parts.
- The sanctuary forms the catchment area of Tansa Lake, along with the surrounding forests of Khardi, Vaitarna, Wada, and Shahapur ranges.
- Tansa reservoir, along with Vaitarna and Bhatsa reservoirs, is the major source of water for the cities of Mumbai and Thane.
- Within Tansa Sanctuary is a fort at Mahuli, situated on a 762 m high hilltop.
- Vegetation: The Sanctuary has Southern Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest, with a few patches of Evergreen forest.
- Flora: It consists of trees like Kalamb, Bibla, Khair, Hed, Teak, and Bamboo.
- Fauna:
- At least 54 species of animals and 200 species of birds exist in the sanctuary.
- Major wild animals are Panther, Barking deer, Mouse deer, Hyena, Wild boar, etc.
