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 predator ...

belonging to the marsh harrier 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 ...

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 (''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 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.

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 (

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

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 tenrecs) 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 inv ...

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. Despite ...

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 A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.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 Del ...

. 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 FRS HFRSE (11 June 18297 June 1907) was an English zoologist and ornithologist. Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907. Among his numerous publications were a four-volume ''Dictiona ...

and Hans Gadow described

tarsometatarsi The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) and meta ...

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 skeletal hand located between the phalanges of the fingers and the carpal bones of the wrist, which forms the connection to the forearm. The metacarpal bones ar ...

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 y ...

considered this taxon as conspecific with the

pied harrier The pied harrier (''Circus melanoleucos'') is an Asian species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is migratory, breeding from the Amur valley in eastern Russia and north-eastern China to North Korea. Wintering individuals can be foun ...

. 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)