Pied Harrier Circus melanoleucos Scientific name definitions
- LC Least Concern
- Names (31)
- Monotypic
Text last updated July 30, 2014
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Species names in all available languages
Language | Common name |
---|---|
Catalan | arpella d'espatlles blanques |
Chinese | 花澤鵟 |
Chinese (Hong Kong SAR China) | 鵲鷂 |
Chinese (SIM) | 鹊鹞 |
Czech | moták černobílý |
Dutch | Bonte Kiekendief |
English | Pied Harrier |
English (United States) | Pied Harrier |
Finnish | huppusuohaukka |
French | Busard tchoug |
French (France) | Busard tchoug |
German | Elsterweihe |
Hebrew | זרון עקוד |
Icelandic | Svartheiðir |
Indonesian | Elang-rawa tangling |
Japanese | マダラチュウヒ |
Korean | 알락개구리매 |
Malayalam | വെള്ളക്കറുപ്പൻ മേടുതപ്പി |
Mongolian | Алаг хулд |
Norwegian | praktkjerrhauk |
Polish | błotniak czarnogłowy |
Russian | Пегий лунь |
Serbian | Šarena eja |
Slovak | kaňa strakatá |
Slovenian | Črnobeli lunj |
Spanish | Aguilucho Pío |
Spanish (Spain) | Aguilucho pío |
Swedish | svartvit kärrhök |
Thai | เหยี่ยวด่างดำขาว |
Turkish | Alaca Delice |
Ukrainian | Лунь строкатий |
Circus melanoleucos (Pennant, 1769)
Definitions
- CIRCUS
- circus
- melanoleuca / melanoleucos / melanoleucus
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Field Identification
43–50 cm; male 254–325 g, female 390–455 g; wingspan 110–125 cm (1). Male strikingly patterned, with jet black on head , neck, breast , back and primaries and bright white on forewing , rump and rest of underparts. Female 4–13% larger than male; plumage similar to that of C. cyaneus, C. macrourus and C. pygargus females, but generally whiter below and extensively grey on upperwing and uppertail. Irides bright yellow in adult male , brownish in adult female, becoming yellowish with age; cere yellow to greenish-yellow; bill black; feet and legs orange-yellow in adult male, paler yellow in female (1). Juvenile dark brown above, rich cinnamon below with streaks on head and breast, no grey in wings; very similar to juvenile C. macrourus and C. pygargus.
Systematics History
Subspecies
Distribution
S Siberia (Transbaikalia) and E Mongolia E to Amurland and NE China; has bred in N Myanmar and NE India (Assam). Winters from India and Sri Lanka to S China, Borneo and Philippines.
Habitat
Open ground, including grasslands, steppe, edge of wet meadows, marshes with reeds and rushes, river valleys, swamps and bogs; tolerates certain degree of bush cover. In S Asia often in flooded and unflooded paddyfields. Ranges from sea-level to 2100 m in breeding season but generally nests below 1500 m (1). Presumed migrant recorded at 3800 m in Nepal.
Movement
Migratory, except in Assam and Burma, where may well only breed irregularly. Reaches N breeding areas in Apr, males sometimes in first week; leaves for winter quarters mainly in Sept or Oct, although starts to disperse earlier, especially juveniles; winters mainly in India and Burma between Sept/Oct and Apr. Many recorded during southward migration at Beidaihe, NE China, from 1986–1990, with peak numbers in mid Sept; 14,534 counted from late Aug to early Oct 1986, including 2978 on 12 Sept; second-highest count 2033 birds on 12 Sept 1988 (2). Migrants also tallied in N Vietnam in mid Oct (3) and in South Korea from early Sept to late Oct, with peak numbers c. 20 Sept (4). In years when rodents plentiful, some birds may spend winter in S Ussuriland and NE China; sometimes winters in Taiwan. Vagrant or perhaps uncommon but regular non-breeding visitor on Sumatra, Indonesia (5, 6).
Diet and Foraging
Diet not well studied. Small mammals, especially voles, but also mice and shrews; more occasionally small terrestrial birds and their nestlings, e.g. larks, pipits; also frogs, lizards, snakes and insects, e.g. grasshoppers and beetles; rarely eats fish and carrion. Surveys terrain meticulously, using low, buoyant flight typical of genus.
Sounds and Vocal Behavior
Generally silent outside breeding season. In display, male repeatedly gives “kiiy-veee” (recalling Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus) and female a rapid “kee-kee-kee“. Also a rapid chattering “chak-chak-chak-chak” in alarm or annoyance (1).
Breeding
Laying in May in Siberia, probably in Apr in N Burma. Nests on ground, in long grass, reedbeds, rushes or sometimes in bushes; nest is thin structure c. 40–50 cm wide, built of grass and other available plant matter. Lays 4–5 eggs, at interval of 2 days; incubation 29–32 days (1), starting with first egg, mainly by female. Asynchronous hatching, leading to notable size differences among chicks; fledging at 32–45 days. In Siberia, chicks hunt for themselves from late Aug, when dispersal starts.
Conservation Status
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Relatively small range, apparently with limited numbers; population size and trends poorly known; total of 14,534 birds counted migrating over Beidaihe (NE China) in autumn 1986; global population could exceed 100,000 breeding pairs according to BirdLife International, but more information needed. Rare or even occasional breeder in Assam and N Burma; locally common in SE Siberia and Russian Far East, although in decline owing to agricultural development.