Malagasy Harrier (Circus macrosceles)
About the Malagasy Harrier
The Malagasy harrier (Circus macrosceles) is a bird of prey belonging to the marsh harrier group of harriers. It inhabits Madagascar and the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the Réunion harrier (C. maillardi) but is increasingly treated as a separate species. It is also known as the Madagascar harrier, Madagascar marsh harrier or Malagasy marsh harrier. It is about 42–55 cm (17–22 in) long; the female is up to 13% larger than the male. The male has a blackish back and a greyer head with dark streaks. The underparts and rump are whitish and the tail is grey with dark bars. The forewings and wingtips are blackish while the secondaries are grey with dark bars. Females are browner than the males.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 9 recordings for this species: 6 CC BY-NC-ND · 3 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in Madagascar in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Eastern Marsh HarrierCircus spilonotusrecording
- Hen HarrierCircus cyaneusrecording
- Western Marsh HarrierCircus aeruginosusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.