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Information about African Marsh Harrier

African Marsh Harrier
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Circus
Species:C. ranivorus
Binomial name
Circus ranivorus
Daudin, 1800
The African Marsh Harrier (Circus ranivorus) is a bird of prey belonging to the harrier genus Circus. It is found in southern, central and eastern Africa from South Africa north to Sudan with a vagrant record from Nigeria. It is particularly common in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It is usually found in wetland areas, especially those with reeds, but also occurs in grassland and farmland.

The adult is 45 to 50 cm long and is mostly brown with pale streaking on the head, breast and forewing and rufous on the thighs and belly. Males and females are similar unlike most harriers. The juvenile is dark brown with a pale breastband and pale markings on the head. The tail and flight feathers have dark barring at all ages. It is usually silent but has a high-pitched, two-note display call.

It feeds largely on small mammals such as the striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) and also takes birds and frogs.

It is monogamous and remains on the breeding territory all year round. The nest is usually built in a reedbed and three or four white eggs are laid.

References

conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, nor Near Threatened, nor (prior to 2001) Conservation Dependent.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Falconiformes
Sharpe, 1874

Families

Accipitridae
Pandionidae
Falconidae
Sagittariidae

The order Falconiformes is a group of about 290 species of birds that include the diurnal birds of prey.
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Accipitridae
Vieillot, 1816

Subfamilies
  • Accipitrinae
  • Aegypiinae
  • Buteoninae
  • Circaetinae
  • Circinae
  • Elaninae
  • Milvinae
  • Perninae
but see text

The Accipitridae
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Circus
Lacepede, 1799

species

see text

Circus is the largest genus of the harriers, a group of diurnal birds of prey which fly low over meadows and marshes and hunt or harry small animals or birds.
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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François Marie Daudin (March 25, 1774–1804) was a French zoologist.

With legs paralyzed by childhood disease, he studied of physics and natural history, but ended up being devoted to the latter.
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    Accipitriformes
  • Pandionidae
  • Accipitridae
  • Sagittariidae
  • Falconiformes
  • Falconidae


A
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Circinae

Genera

Circus
Geranospiza
Polyboroides

A Harrier is any of several species of diurnal birds of prey which fly low over meadows and marshes and hunt or harry small animals or birds (hence their common name).
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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Motto
"Al-Nasr Lana"   (Arabic)
"Victory is Ours"
Anthem
نحن جند للہ جند الوطن   (Arabic)

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''See also vagrancy (people) for an alternative use of the term


Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby individual animals appear well outside their normal range; individual animals which exhibit vagrancy are known as vagrants.
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Motto
"Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress"
Anthem
"Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria's Call Obey"


Capital Abuja

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Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta.

"Where all this water goes is a mystery", Aurel Schultz, 1897

The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago.
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Motto
"Pula"
"Rain"
Anthem
Fatshe leno la rona
Blessed Be This Noble Land


Capital
(and largest city) Gaborone

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Phragmites

Species: P. australis

Binomial name
Phragmites australis
(Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.
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flight feather refers to any of the long stiff feathers on the wing or tail of a bird; those on the wing are called remiges (singular remex) while those on the tail are called rectrices (singular rectrix).
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Rhabdomys
Thomas, 1916

Species

Rhabdomys dilectus
Rhabdomys pumilio
Rhabdomys is a small (40-50g) muroid rodent that is widespread and abundant in the southern African subregion (De Graaff, 1981; Willan & Meester,
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