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Lizard Buzzard - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Steve G
Abuko, The Gambia, March 2005
Kaupifalco monogrammicus

Identification

30–37 cm (11¾-14½ in)

  • Grey upperparts, head and breas
  • Black vertical black line on the white throat
  • White belly with fine dark barring
  • White underwings with dark tips
  • Black tail with a white tip and a single white band
  • Orangey-pink cere and legs
Photo by paux
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, September 2016

Sexes are similar.

Distribution

Africa south of the Sahara:
Western Africa: Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zaire
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, eSwatini

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are two subspecies[1]:

  • K. m. monogrammicus the northern race:
  • K. m. meridionalis, the southern race:

Habitat

Riverine forests and moist deciduous woodland.

Behaviour

Breeding

They build a stick nest in the fork of a tree or the crown of a palm tree. The clutch consists of 1-3 eggs.

Diet

Diet includes mainly reptiles, particularly lizards, large insects also small mammals and birds.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Avibase
  3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2016)

Recommended Citation

External Links

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