Polyboroides radiatus
Madagascar Harrier Hawk
Français

The harrier is the second largest raptor in the park (after the extremely rare serpent eagle) with a grey head and back, black wing tips, white belly with black bars. The tail is black with a white band across it, the tail's tip is rounded.

Only seen singly or in pairs.

The harrier is endemic to Madagascar.

Diet

Will eat almost anything from insects (ants, termites, crickets, cockroaches) to vertebrates (young birds, eggs, reptiles). It has been observed to prey on some lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus, Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi, Microcebus rufus (Goodman, 1993, Karpanty, 1999)) and it certainly disturbs many others (they make alarm calls). Lemur predation is probably primarily on infants though an adult Propithecus skeleton was discovered under a harrier's nest.


Harrier attacking cattle egrets


Goodman, SM, O'Conner S, Langrand O, 1993 "A review of predation on lemurs: Implications for the evolution of social behavior in small, nocturnal primates", Lemur Social Systems and their Ecological Basis, 51-66

Karpanty SM, Goodman SM, 1999 "Prey profile of the Madagascar Harrier-Hawk, Polyboroides radiatus in southeastern Madagascar", Journal of Raptor Research, 33: 313-316

Langrand, Olivier; 1990: Guide to the Birds of Madagascar, Yale University Press

Sinclair, I & Langrand, O.; 1998: Birds of the Indian Ocean Islands, Struik


All images Copyright © 1995 by George Williams. Shot at Berenty in Oct. 1995.

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