Circus ranivorus
| African marsh harrier | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Circus |
| Species: | C. ranivorus |
| Binomial name | |
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Circus ranivorus Daudin, 1800 |
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The African marsh harrier (Circus ranivorus) is a bird of prey belonging to the harrier genus Circus. It is largely resident in wetland habitats in southern, central and eastern Africa from South Africa north to South Sudan.
The adult is 44 to 49 cm long, with females being about 30% heavier than males (Simmons and Simmons 2000). Adults, (like the male bird right) have yellow eyes, but brown eyes when immature. Both sexes are mostly brown with pale streaking on the head, breast and forewing and rufous on the thighs and belly. Adult males differ from females in that they have a pale grey wash to the dorsal secondaries and primaries. The female's are brown. The juvenile is dark brown and may have a pale breastband and pale markings on the head. The tail and flight feathers have dark barring at all ages, but this is rarely visible in the juvenile birds.
It resembles a small Eurasian marsh harrier but is slimmer and paler brown. Could be mistaken for an immature Montagu's harrier or pallid harrier, species which winter in Africa but the African marsh harrier can be readily distinguished from them by its lack of a white rump.
It is usually silent but the male has a high-pitched, two-note display call, and only the female has the far-carrying pseeew-pseeew food and copulation call during breeding.
Generally found in marshes or reedbeds and hunts over open grasslands and cultivation near wetlands. Found from sea level up to 3000 metres, in east Africa it predominantly occurs above 1500 metres.
Mainly resident in the moister regions of southern and eastern Africa, from Western Cape northwards through eastern South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, eastern Zimbabwe, south and western Mozambique, Malawi,south western Tanzania, western and central Zambia, south eastern Angola into northern Botswana, especially in the Okavango Delta, and north eastern Namibia. Disjunct populations occur in northern Tanzania, another two in the south of Democratic Republic of Congo, another in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and south eastern Uganda; and the northernmost in north western Kenya, far north Uganda and South Sudan.
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Wikipedia