---
title: "African Harrier-Hawk"
description: "Polyboroides typus — Uccelli. The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk or gymnogene (Polyboroides typus) is a bird of prey."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/african-harrier-hawk
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# African Harrier-Hawk

> Polyboroides typus — Uccelli. The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk or gymnogene (Polyboroides typus) is a bird of prey.

- Scientific name: *Polyboroides typus*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: `forest` (Foresta), `savanna` (Savana)
- iNaturalist observations: 5218
- Wikidata: [Q512792](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q512792)
- iNaturalist taxon: [5246](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/5246)

## Names

- en: African Harrier-Hawk
- de: Höhlenweihe
- es: Aguilucho caricalvo común
- fr: Gymnogène d'Afrique
- nl: Kaalkopkiekendief
- pt: Secretário-pequeno
- pl: Owadożer palmowy

## Countries with the most observations

ZA (2787), TZ (253), KE (240), UG (236), GM (211), ZM (116), MW (110), BW (95), NA (80), ZW (78), GH (74), SN (70)

## Summary

The African harrier-hawk, harrier hawk or gymnogene (Polyboroides typus) is a bird of prey. It is about 60–66 centimetres (24–26 in) in length. It breeds in most of Africa south of the Sahara. The only other member of the genus is the allopatric Madagascar harrier-hawk (Polyboroides radiatus).

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_harrier-hawk

## Photo

![African Harrier-Hawk](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/african-harrier-hawk/medium.jpg)

Photo: Don Wellmann · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/252829904

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/african-harrier-hawk?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).