Is the Anjouan Sparrowhawk still extant? (3 Viewers)

[Melanie]

The Anjouan Sparrowhawk is a subspecies of the Frances's Goshawk endemic to the Comoro Island of Anjouan. Nothing is known about its population. If you go after Warren King (Endangered Birds of the World, 1978) it might be none because Constantine Walter Benson seems to be last who made the last reliable sighting of the Anjouan Sparrowhawk in 1958. If you go after Safford and Hawkins (2013) it seems that this bird is still alive. They state in The Birds of Africa: On Anjouan, uncommon, but probably not as close to extinction as once feared. So do you have any information whether and when this bird was recently rediscovered?

 

[Melanie]

I've found some new material via Google scholar:

Seems that the rediscovery was already in the 1980s:

Daily reporting rates in the years 1983 - 1992 were 0.2 on Anjouan (sparrowhawks
seen on three days out of 14) and 0.3 on the Karthala (16 days out of 49). In 2005, the
reporting rate on Anjouan was higher: 0.47 – seven days out of 15 - C. Marsh in Louette
et al. 2008). Density estimates on concentric bands from point-transect counts indicated
a rapidly declining detectability of sparrowhawks beyond 50 m, and an average density
of >1 bird/ha throughout the densely vegetated wet sector of Mayotte in October 1993
(Table 1).

Reference: Record breeding densities of Frances’s Sparrowhawk Accipiter
francesiae, and effects on bird communities in the Comoros
MARC HERREMANS 1, MICHEL LOUETTE, JAN STEVENS AND DANNY MEIRTE, Phelsuma 19 (2011); 1-26

(Online, PDF)

The subspecies
pusillus on Anjouan is “rare” in an area of ca. 200
km²; at one time it was even thought that this subspecies
was close to extinction, but there are signs of
recent recovery (Louette et al. 2008).

Reference: Frances’s sparrowhawk Accipiter francesiae (Aves: Accipitridae)
radiation on the Comoro Islands. M. Louette, M. Herremans, Z.T. Nagy,
L.-A.R. de Rolands, K. Jordaens, J. van Houdt, G. Sonet, & F.C. Breman, 2011

(Online, PDF)

In addition I am currently trying to find this reference:

Louette, M., Abderemane H., Yahaya I., & D. Meirte, with
the assistance of Cael, G., Doulton, H., Marsh, C., Meganck,
B. & D. Monticelli 2008. (eds). Atlas des oiseaux
nicheurs de la Grande Comore, de Mohéli et d’Anjouan.
Studies in Afrotropical Zoology Vol. 294.

where you can read somewhat more about the most recent sightings

 

[Richard Klim]

Frances's Sparrowhawk

Incidentally, the HBW Alive species account for Accipiter francesiae was comprehensively revised and expanded yesterday.