Their wings are blunt-ended, the tail is long and narrow, and their head is small and round. The male birds are smaller than the female birds, blue-greyish on the top with reddish-brown-orange sides and cheeks. The bottom side of their body is covered in orange stripes, but the area under the tail is white. Female birds are grey-brown; the bottom side of their body is striped crosswise in canescent-grey colours, and there is a narrow white supercilium above yellow eyes. Sparrowhawks are very quick and skilled, and they hunt Passeriformes. They can mainly be identified on the basis of their flight: they are incredibly fast. They move their wings rather quickly; they are never in the same spot while flying. They are under protection (protection category III).