All species › Birds of prey › Hawks, eagles and kites › African Harrier-Hawk
African Harrier-Hawk | Polyboroides typus
Kaalkopkiekendief | Aguilucho Caricalvo Común
The African Harrier-Hawk is a large, grey raptor with a bare yellow face and double-jointed legs, with which it reaches into tree holes, crevices and weaver nests to extract nestlings and eggs. Clinging to a tree trunk and flapping with outspread wings, it is unmistakable.
Voice
A drawn-out, plaintive whistle, suuu-eeee or heeeee-oo, mainly in the breeding season and during display flights over the forest. Softer, squeaky notes at the nest.
Recording: François Morand — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
60–66 cm, wingspan 148–170 cm. Adults are blue-grey on head, breast and back, with fine black and white barring on belly and thighs. The wings are grey with black primaries and a broad black trailing edge; the long black tail has a single broad white band. The face is bare and yellow but flushes pinkish red within seconds when the bird is excited. The head is small with a loose crest on the nape, and the long legs are yellow. Juveniles are dark brown to pale brown with a brown or greyish face; they take several years to acquire adult plumage. Flight is slow and languid, with deep beats and rocking glides.
Confusion species
Dark Chanting Goshawk Melierax metabates and Pale Chanting Goshawk Melierax canorus have red legs and cere, a tail with more white bars and no bare face, and sit upright on a lookout. Gabar Goshawk Micronisus gabar is much smaller. Lizard Buzzard Kaupifalco monogrammicus is much smaller, with a black throat stripe. Juveniles can suggest a young Common Buzzard or a snake eagle, but the small head, long tail and long legs help.
Habitat
Riverine forest, forest edges, broadleaf woodland and savanna with large trees, and also plantations, parks and gardens with tall trees, even in towns. It raids birds' nests, especially weaver colonies, woodpecker holes and tree cavities; it also eats small mammals, reptiles, oil-palm fruit and insects. It nests on a stick platform in a large tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Widespread in the north, east and south of the region: South Africa from the Western Cape east along the coast and inland to Limpopo, Eswatini, the margins of Lesotho, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, northern Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and Angola. Absent from the arid interior of the Karoo, the Kalahari and the Namib. It has spread westwards along rivers and plantations in recent decades. Beyond the region it occurs over almost all of sub-Saharan Africa.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Watch a weaver colony or an old tree with cavities: the harrier-hawk arrives clambering and flapping, hangs upside down from branches and pushes a leg deep into a nest or hole. Small birds raise a loud alarm when it appears. In flight the single white tail band stands out, together with the lazy, rocking glide.
Conservation status
Not threatened and widespread, and increasing in South Africa thanks to plantations and gardens with large trees. Birds are persecuted locally for taking chickens and pigeons.
Scientific name
Polyboroides typus | Smith, 1829
Smith described the species in 1829 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. He introduced the genus Polyboroides in that same work. Polyboroides means 'resembling Polyborus', the caracaras of the Americas — for the bare facial skin and versatile foraging. typus is Latin for 'type, model' — the species is the type of the genus Polyboroides. The specimen the first description was based on came from South Africa.