Anjouan Sparrowhawk

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Anjouan Sparrowhawk
Lizard Hawk from Joanna Island (Anjouan), illustration by Joseph Wolf

Lizard Hawk from Joanna Island (Anjouan), illustration by Joseph Wolf

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Birds of prey (Accipitriformes)
Family : Hawk species (Accipitridae)
Genre : Hawks and sparrowhawks ( Accipiter )
Type : Lizard Hawk ( Accipiter francesiae )
Subspecies : Anjouan Sparrowhawk
Scientific name
Accipiter francesiae pusillus
( Gurney , 1875)

The Anjouan-Sperber ( Accipiter francesiae pusillus ), also known as Anjouan lizards Habicht known, is a rare subspecies of lizards Habichts ( Accipiter francesiae ) within the family of Accipitridae (Accipitridae). It is endemic to the Comoros island of Anjouan .

description

This subspecies looks very similar to the male of the nominate form ( A. f. Francesiae ) in both sexes . The top is a solid dark gray. The underside of the rump is white-gray and the underside of the wings is banded dark gray on a whitish background. The tail has a black-gray banding on a dark background.

The wing length is 135 to 149 mm in the males and between 155 and 163 mm in the females. Males have a tail length of 99 to 108 mm, in females the tail is 113 to 125 mm long.

status

Because of the extensive hunting as supposed pests and the destruction of the habitat during the 20th century, it was already very rare at the end of the 1950s. In 1958 a single specimen was sighted during an expedition of the British Ornithologists' Union led by Constantine Walter Benson . A search in 1965 was unsuccessful. Thereafter there was no evidence for a longer period of time until searches between 1983 and 1992 and in 2005 confirmed the continued existence of this subspecies. 44 bellows of the Anjouan sparrow are known, of which u. a. one specimen is in the Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich , Switzerland .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louette, M., Abderemane H., Yahaya I., & D. Meirte, with the assistance of Cael, G., Doulton, H., Marsh, C., Meganck, B. & D. Monticelli 2008. (eds ). Atlas des oiseaux nicheurs de la Grande Comore, de Mohéli et d'Anjouan. Studies in Afrotropical Zoology Vol. 294
  2. ^ Marc Herremans, Michel Louette, Jan Stevens & Danny Meirte: Record breeding densities of Frances's Sparrowhawk Accipiter francesiae, and effects on bird communities in the Comoros . Phelsuma 19 (2011); 1-26

literature

  • James Ferguson-Lees , David A. Christie: Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London 2001, ISBN 0-7136-8026-1 , pp. 154-155 and 535-536.
  • Warren B. King on the behalf of the International council for bird preservation (ICBP) and the Survival service commission of IUCN (1978-1979): Red Data Book 2: Aves (2nd edition). IUCN, Morges, Switzerland. ISBN 0-87474-583-7
  • Roger Safford , Frank Hawkins: The Birds of Africa Vol. VIII: Malagasy Region . Pp. 286-287, Christopher Helm, London, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7136-6532-1