African Harrier-Hawk

The African Harrier-Hawk, also widely known by its older name gymnogene, is a slender, long-legged grey raptor found across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Its body plumage is soft grey, with black flight feathers and a black tail crossed by a broad white band.

Its most distinctive feature is the bare, featherless skin of its face, which can flush between pale yellow and vivid orange-red depending on the bird's mood, particularly during feeding or courtship.

Key field marks

• Grey body with black flight feathers and a black tail bearing a single broad white band
• Bare, color-changing yellow-to-red facial skin — unique among African raptors
• Long, slim wings often held raised in a shallow V during slow, flapping flight
• Long, bare legs adapted for climbing and probing

Similar species

Its pale grey coloring can suggest a harrier or a pale morph of another raptor at a distance, but the bare, flushing facial skin and its distinctive climbing behavior around tree cavities and weaver colonies are diagnostic and shared by no other species in its range.

Range

Widespread across sub-Saharan Africa, with a distinct subspecies also found in Madagascar.

Habitat

Occupies woodland, forest edge, savanna with large trees, riverine growth, and rocky cliffs, wherever it can find cavities, palm clusters, or colonial nests to raid.

Movement

Sedentary, generally remaining within a fixed home range throughout the year.

Behavior

The African Harrier-Hawk possesses an unusual double-jointed intertarsal joint that allows its legs to bend both forward and backward. This lets it reach deep into tree cavities, cliff crevices, and hanging weaver-bird nests to extract eggs, nestlings, and other prey that would be inaccessible to most raptors, while flapping for balance outside the opening.

Voice

Gives a shrill, whistled call, most often heard during display flight or disputes near nesting colonies it is raiding.

Feeding

Opportunistic, taking nestlings and eggs of colonial birds such as weavers, along with small reptiles, amphibians, insects, and the fruit of oil palms.

Nesting

Builds a stick nest high in a tall tree, usually laying one to three eggs; pairs display with slow, buoyant flight over their territory.