Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Accipitriformes > Accipitridae > Circus > Circus maurus

Circus maurus (Black Harrier)

Wikipedia Abstract

The black harrier (Circus maurus) is a medium-sized African harrier whose range extends from South Africa to Botswana and Namibia. It has a wingspan of 105–115 cm (41–45 in) and a body length of 44–50 cm (17–20 in). When perched, this bird appears all black. However, in flight a white rump and flight feathers become visible. Its morphology is comparable to that of other harriers, with a slim body, narrow wings and a long tail. Male and female plumages are similar. Juveniles have buff under-parts and heavily spotted breasts.
View Wikipedia Record: Circus maurus

Endangered Species

Status: Endangered
View IUCN Record: Circus maurus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
41
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 6.54511
EDGE Score: 3.40719
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  1.122 lbs (509 g)
Birth Weight [2]  33 grams
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Ectothermic [3]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [3]  80 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  10 %
Forages - Understory [3]  20 %
Forages - Ground [3]  80 %
Clutch Size [5]  4
Incubation [4]  34 days
Raptor Research Conservation Priority [6]  21
Snout to Vent Length [7]  18 inches (46 cm)
Wing Span [4]  3.608 feet (1.1 m)

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Cape Floristic Region South Africa No
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland No
Succulent Karoo Namibia, South Africa No

Prey / Diet

Coturnix coturnix (Common Quail)[8]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Falco biarmicus (Lanner Falcon)1

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1SAFRING, University of Cape Town, Department of Statistical Sciences, Avian Demography Unit
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 6Buechley ER, Santangeli A, Girardello M, et al. Global raptor research and conservation priorities: Tropical raptors fall prey to knowledge gaps. Divers Distrib. 2019;25:856–869. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12901
♦ 7Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 8Black Harrier Circus maurus of the Fynbos biome, South Africa: a threatened specialist or an adaptable survivor?, ODETTE CURTIS, ROBERT E. SIMMONS and ANDREW R. JENKINS, Bird Conservation International (2004) 14:233–245
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0