Critically Endangered
Madagascar Fish Eagle
Haliaeetus vociferoides
The Madagascar fish eagle (Icthyophaga vociferoides) or Madagascar sea-eagle (to distinguish it from the Ichthyophaga fishing-eagles), is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae that also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers.
Appearance
The body and wings are dark brown, with a pale brown head and a white tail. The bill is blackish with a paler base, and the legs are pale grey. Together, they form a distinct species pair lineage of sea-eagles, that separated soon after the divergence of the genus. They retain the ancestral dark beak, talon, and eye, but unlike Haliaeetus species, they always have at least partially white tails, even while juvenile. As in other sea-eagle species pairs, one species (the Madagascan fish eagle in this case) has a tan head, while the other has a white one.
The Madagascar fish eagle is a medium-sized sea eagle, 60–66 cm (23.5–26 in) long and with a wingspan of 165–180 cm (65–71 in).
Published measurements include mass about 3.15.
Range and habitat
This species is endemic to Madagascar, where it survives in low numbers along the northwest coast north of Morondava. The range of this eagle is within the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. A more recent survey by Garbutt and Hogan report a smaller concentration of at least three breeding pairs in the Anjajavy Forest along the Indian Ocean, where several streams discharge north of Anjajavy Village.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
The Madagascar fish eagle has been suffering from a declining population and is threatened by habitat destruction and persecution, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being "critically endangered".
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Madagascar Fish Eagle is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Madagascar Fish Eagle, Wikidata item Q648490. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
