The Madagascar buzzard (''Buteo brachypterus'') is a bird of prey which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

. It is a species from the widespread

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Buteo ''Buteo'' is a genus of medium to fairly large, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings. In the Old World, members of this genus are called "buzzards", but "hawk" is used in the New World (Etymology: ''Buteo'' is the Latin name o ...

'' in the family ''

Accipitridae The Accipitridae is one of the three families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-s ...

''.

Description

The Madagascar buzzard is a typical old-world buzzard showing quite a lot of variability in plumage and which is similar to the

forest buzzard The forest buzzard (''Buteo trizonatus''), is a species of bird of prey found in Africa, though some authorities have placed it as a subspecies of another species, the mountain buzzard, ''Buto oreophilus''. This is a resident breeding species in ...

of Africa and the

palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

common buzzard The common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') is a medium-to-large bird of prey which has a large range. A member of the genus ''Buteo'', it is a member of the family Accipitridae. The species lives in most of Europe and extends its breeding range across ...

. They have a dark grey head, a white patch on the breast, the brownish -white vent and thighs are spotted with brown. The tail is marked with broad brownish-black bars. The bill is black with a greyish blue

cere The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, ...

, the eyes are yellow and the legs and feet are pale yellow.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic to Madagascar where it is common, except for the deforested central plateau where it is less common, there is some indication that its population is increasing as the forest is fragmented. The Madagascar buzzard is adaptable as to its habitat and is found in a wide variety of habitats including forest, open woodland and regenerating, secondary forest. It can also be found on rocky hillsides up to 2300 metres above sea level. Although it is so adaptable it is still less common on the deforested central plateau.

Habits

The Madagascar buzzard has a breeding season which extends from July to November, It builds its nest in the fork of a tree, in a palm tree or on a cliff ledge, constructing it from sticks and lining it with fresh foliage. The clutch is normally made up of 1-2 eggs which the female lays spaced apart but starts incubating as soon as the first one is laid. Once the eggs hatched the older sibling usually kills the younger and only very rarely are two chicks raised to fledging. Incubation last 4–5 weeks and the fledging period is 6–7 weeks. This species is an opportunistic hunter which take a wide variety of prey including small

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

terrestrial crab A number of lineages of crabs have evolved to live predominantly on land. Examples of terrestrial crabs are found in the families Gecarcinidae and Gecarcinucidae, as well as in selected genera from other families, such as ''Sesarma'', althoug ...

s and other large

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s. In addition, scientists observing the behaviour of lemurs (in particular the

ruffed lemur The ruffed lemurs of the genus ''Varecia'' are strepsirrhine primates and the largest extant lemurs within the family Lemuridae. Like all living lemurs, they are found only on the island of Madagascar. Formerly considered to be a monotypic genus ...

and

Verreaux's sifaka Verreaux's sifaka (''Propithecus verreauxi''), or the white sifaka, is a medium-sized primate in one of the lemur families, the Indriidae. It lives in Madagascar and can be found in a variety of habitats from rainforest to dry deciduous forests ...

) have recorded them making alarm calls at the sight of a Madagascar buzzard, suggesting that young may occasionally be preyed upon.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q282079

Madagascar buzzard The Madagascar buzzard (''Buteo brachypterus'') is a bird of prey which is endemic to Madagascar. It is a species from the widespread genus ''Buteo'' in the family ''Accipitridae''. Description The Madagascar buzzard is a typical old-world buzza ...

Endemic birds of Madagascar

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot