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Information about Black Harrier

Black Harrier
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Circus
Species:C. maurus
Binomial name
Circus maurus
Temminck, 1828
The Black Harrier, Circus maurus is a medium-sized, up to 53cm long, African harrier that can be seen in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

When perched, this bird appears all black, however in flight a white rump and flight feathers become visible. Its morphology is comparable to that of other harriers, with a slim body, narrow wings and a long tail. Male and female plumages are similar. Immatures have buff under-parts and a heavily spotted breast.

Like other harriers it nests on the ground in tall vegetation. Three to five eggs are laid and incubated 35 days.

It feeds mostly on small rodents and birds and will occasionally take reptiles, catching them while flying low over its hunting grounds.

The greatest number of breeding pairs can be found in the Western Cape province, South Africa. In this area loose colonies will aggregate around coastal wetlands. Breeding in Namibia is suspected but not confirmed.

The Black Harrier population has declined in recent years to less than a 1000 birds and it is now classified as vulnerable, despite still having a wide breeding range. This is due to the destruction of its original breeding habitat, South Africa's natural shrubland, the Fynbos, which has been greatly reduced by encroaching cereal culture and urban expansion. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.

References

External links

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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vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve. The following is a very small, non-representative fraction of the 8565 species listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
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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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Coenraad Jacob Temminck (March 31, 1778, Amsterdam - January 30, 1858, Lisse) was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.

Temminck was the first director of the National Natural History Museum at Leiden from 1820 until his death.
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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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Motto
"Unity, Liberty, Justice"
Anthem
Namibian Anthem )
[[Human Development Index|HDI]] (2004) [[Image:Red Arrow Down.svg|10px]] 0.626 (medium) ([[List of countries by Human Development Index|125th]])
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The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the huge (and now defunct) Cape Province.
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State Party  South Africa
Type Natural
Criteria ix, x
Reference 1007
Region Africa

Inscription History
Inscription 2004  (28th Session)
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CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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IUCN

International Organization
Founded October 1948, Fontainebleau, France
Headquarters Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland

Key people Mr Valli Moosa
Ms Julia Marton-Lefèvre
Industry Natural resource conservation
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