Anjouan Island Sparrowhawk

Taxobox
name = Anjouan Island Sparrowhawk
status = PE


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Falconiformes
familia = Accipitridae
genus = "Accipiter"
species = "A. francesii"
subspecies = "A. francesii pusillus"
trinomial = "Accipiter francesii pusillus"
trinomial_authority = (Gurney, 1875)
synonyms = "Accipiter francesiae pusillus" ("lapsus")

The Anjouan Island Sparrowhawk or Ndzuwani Goshawk ("Accipiter francesii pusillus") is an extremely rare or possible extinct subspecies of the Frances's Sparrowhawk (Accipiter francesii). It is endemic to the Comoros island of Ndzuwani (Anjouan).

Description

This subspecies looks in both sexes very similar to the male of the Frances's Sparrowhawk, but are markedly smaller and lack most of the underside barring. The wings have a length between 135 to 149 mm at the males and 155 to 163 mm at the females. The length of the tail reaches from 99 to 188 mm at the males and 113 to 125 mm at the females. It has white underparts, grey upperparts and dark-greyish wings. The tail exhibits a dark barring.

tatus

Due to the extensive hunting and habitat loss during the 20th century it became extremely rare by the late 1950s. Only one individual was found in a month-long survey in 1958 and the population was estimated between one and ten birds (Benson 1960). Another expedition in 1965 spent 3 days on Ndzuwani and did not encounter the bird (although no dedicated effort was made to and the key habitat was not visited), but remarked that other subspecies were "extremely tame" (Forbes-Watson 1969), which obviously bodes ill for a frequently-hunted bird.

Apparently, the bird has never been seen by scientists since 1958 (at least not between 1958 and 1977: King 1977-78); it is likely to be extinct today. The last population was found in the mountaineous central uplands. It is somewhat puzzling why this subspecies should have declined so heavily during the first half of the 20th century - it was common in the 1900s (King 1978-79) - while the other Comoros races seem to be able to hold their own (Kemp 1994). Some circumstantial information points at deforestation, especially in the lowlands, due to overpopulation being the main cause for the subspecies' disappearance: "A. f. griveaudii" of Njazidja (Grande Comore) has declined recently (King 1978-79, Kemp 1994), coincident with a significant population increase, while "A. f. brutus" is still rather common on Mahoré (Mayotte) where extensive lowland forest remains (Kemp 1994) and population density is around 75% of that on Ndzuwani.

44 specimens were taken up to 1907 (King 1978-79), one of which is on display in the Zoological Museum of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

References

* Benson, Constantine Walter (1960): The birds of the Comoro Islands: results of the British Ornithologists' Union centenary expedition. "Ibis" 103: 5-106.

* Ferguson-Lees, James & Christie, David A. (2001): "Raptors of the World". Houghton Mifflin, Boston. ISBN 0618127623

* Forbes-Watson, A. D. (1969): Notes on the birds observed in the Comoros on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution. "Atoll Research Bulletin" 128: 1-23. [http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/ARB/128-135/128.pdf PDF fulltext]

* Kemp, Alan C. (1994): 104. Frances's Sparrowhawk. "In:" del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors): "Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 2: New World Vultures to Guineafowl": 149, plate 11. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-15-6

* King, W.B. (1978-1979): "Red Data Book 2: Aves" (2nd edition). IUCN, Morges, Switzerland.