The Madagascar buzzard (''Buteo brachypterus'') is a bird of prey which is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
. It is a species from the widespread
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''
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 ...
'' in the family ''
Accipitridae
The Accipitridae () is one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects ...
''.
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 of Africa and the
palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
Th ...
common buzzard
The common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') is a medium-to-large bird of prey which has a large range. It is a member of the genus '' Buteo'' in the family Accipitridae. The species lives in most of Europe and extends its breeding range across much of ...
. 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 (anatomy), 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 pecking, wikt:grasp#Verb, grasping, and holding (in wikt:probe ...
, 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.mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s, bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
s, lizard
Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...
s, snake
Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
s, frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...
s, 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'', althou ...
s and other large arthropod
Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...
s.ruffed lemur
The ruffed lemurs of the genus ''Varecia'' are strepsirrhine primates and are 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 g ...
and Verreaux's sifaka) 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
Endemic birds of Madagascar
Madagascar buzzard
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot