The Réunion harrier or Réunion marsh harrier (''Circus maillardi'') is a

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators h ...

belonging to the

marsh harrier The marsh harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding ...

group of harriers. It is now found only on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

island of

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

, although fossil material from

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

has been referred to this species. It is known locally as the ''papangue'' or ''pied jaune''. The

Malagasy harrier The Malagasy harrier (''Circus macrosceles'') is a bird of prey belonging to the marsh harrier group of harriers. It inhabits Madagascar and the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the Réunion harrie ...

(''C. macrosceles'') of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and the

Comoro Islands The Comoro Islands or Comoros ( Shikomori ''Komori''; ar, جزر القمر , ''Juzur al-qamar''; french: Les Comores) form an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northw ...

was previously treated as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of this bird but is increasingly regarded as a separate species. The Réunion harrier appears to be declining in numbers and it is classed as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

Description

It is about 42–55 cm long; the female is around 3–15% larger than the male.Ferguson-Lees, James & David A. Christie (2001) ''Raptors of the World'', Christopher Helm, London. The male has a blackish head and back with white streaks. The underparts, underwings and rump are white and the tail is grey. The wings are grey and black with a white leading edge. Females and immatures are dark brown with a white rump and barred tail.BirdLife International (2014
Species factsheet: ''Circus maillardi''
Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26 January 2014. The birds are mostly silent except during the breeding season when they give a chattering threat call, a wailing courtship call and chuckling food-associated calls. The Malagasy harrier is larger and paler with longer wings and legs.

Ecology

It is typically found in forested upland areas between 300 and 700 m above sea-level. It also visits cane fields and grassland. Today its diet includes many introduced mammals ( rats,

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

and

tenrec A tenrec is any species of mammal within the afrotherian family Tenrecidae endemic to Madagascar. Tenrecs are wildly diverse; as a result of convergent evolution some resemble hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, rats, and mice. They occupy aquatic, a ...

s) but it originally fed mainly on birds and insects. It will also take small lizards, frogs and carrion. It has a number of adaptations which are unusual among harriers: broad rounded wings for hunting between trees and a short tarsus and long claws, which are common among those birds of prey which feed on other birds. It breeds between January and May and lays two or three white eggs in a nest on the ground.

Status and conservation

In 2011 it had an estimated population of at least 564 birds including about 150 breeding pairs. It has been evaluated as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

and it is threatened by destruction and disturbance of its habitat and by poaching, deliberate persecution and accidental poisoning by

rodenticide Rodenticides are chemicals made and sold for the purpose of killing rodents. While commonly referred to as "rat poison", rodenticides are also used to kill mice, squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks, porcupines, nutria, beavers, and voles. Despi ...

s. It became a protected species in 1966 and its numbers were thought to be stable or increasing until 2000–2010 when its population appeared to decrease. Sites identified by

as being important for the conservation of the species are the

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

s (IBAs) of: * Mouth of the Cirque de Salazie * Ravine de la Grande Chaloupe * Rivière des Marsouins – Grand Étang * Rivière des Remparts - Rivière Langevin

Taxonomy

The species was described in 1862 by

Jules Verreaux Jules Pierre Verreaux (24 August 1807 – 7 September 1873) was a French botanist and ornithologist and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of Édouard Verreaux and nephew of Pierre Antoine Dela ...

. He named it in honour of Louis Maillard, a French botanist and engineer who mentioned the bird in a book about the island. In 1893

Alfred Newton Alfred Newton Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an England, English zoology, zoologist and ornithology, ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Amo ...

and

Hans Gadow Hans Friedrich Gadow (8 March 1855 – 16 May 1928) was a German-born ornithologist who worked in Britain. His work on the classification of birds based on anatomical and morphological characters was influential and made use of by Alexander Wetmore ...

described tarsometatarsi,

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

e and

metacarpals In human anatomy, the metacarpal bones or metacarpus form the intermediate part of the skeleton, skeletal hand located between the phalanges of the fingers and the carpal bones of the wrist, which forms the connection to the forearm. The metacarpa ...

from a hawk called ''Astur alphonsi'' (later renamed ''Accipiter alphonsi'' and ''Circus alphonsi'') from

. In 1958

James Greenway James Cowan Greenway (April 7, 1903 – June 10, 1989) was an American ornithologist. An eccentric, shy, and often reclusive man, his survey of extinct and vanishing birds provided the base for much subsequent work on bird conservation. Early ...

considered this taxon as conspecific with the pied harrier. A later examination of the bones came to the conclusion that ''Astur alphonsi'' is actually identical with ''Circus maillardi'', which formerly occurred on Mauritius too but is now extirpated.Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Roger Bour & Sonia Ribes (2004) "The taxonomic identity of ''Circus alphonsi'' (Newton & Gadow 1893), the extinct harrier from Mauritius", ''Ibis'', 146 (1): 168-172.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reunion Harrier Birds described in 1862 Birds of Mauritius Birds of Réunion Harriers (birds)