Grey Goshawk

The grey goshawk (Tachyspiza novaehollandiae) is a strongly built, medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae that is found in eastern and northern Australia. The white morph of this species is known as the white goshawk. This species was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter. == Taxonomy == The grey goshawk was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the eagles, hawks and relatives in the genus Falco and coined the binomial name Falco novaehollandiae. Gmelin based his description on the "New Holland white eagle" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham. Latham in turn had based his short description on information provided by Johann Forster who had accompanied James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Two specimens had been collected in March 1773 at Adventure Bay in Tasmania. The grey goshawk was formerly placed in the genus Accipiter. In 2024 a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study of the Accipitridae confirmed earlier work that had shown that the genus was polyphyletic. To resolve the non-monophyly, Accipiter was divided into six genera. The genus…