# Wood harrier

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Extinct species of bird

Wood harrier Temporal range: Late Holocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Accipitriformes Family: Accipitridae Genus: Circus Species: †C. dossenus Binomial name †Circus dossenus Olson & James 1991

The **wood harrier** or **mime harrier** (***Circus dossenus***) is an [extinct](/source/Extinct) [bird of prey](/source/Birds_of_prey) which lived in [Hawaii](/source/Hawaii) during the [Holocene](/source/Holocene). This small, short-winged [harrier](/source/Harrier_(bird)) inhabited the forests of [Molokai](/source/Molokai) and [Oahu](/source/Oahu) where it presumably hunted for small birds and insects.

## Description

When compared to extant species of the genus *Circus*, the wood harrier was a small harrier. It had rather short wings but long legs and was even outsized by the small [pied harrier](/source/Pied_harrier) and [Montagu's harrier](/source/Montagu's_harrier).[1][2]

## Habitat

The habitat of the wood harrier consisted of forests, where it hunted for insects or small birds such as [honeycreepers](/source/Honeycreepers), since there were no terrestrial mammals before the arrival of the [Polynesians](/source/Polynesians) in Hawaii. Due to its habitat which is unusual for harriers and because of its small prey, it developed shorter wings and a smaller body (rather resembling an *[Accipiter](/source/Accipiter)* or the stilt owls *[Grallistrix](/source/Grallistrix)*), making it a typical example of [insular dwarfism](/source/Insular_dwarfism).[3]

## Distribution

The wood harrier was presumably restricted to the islands of [Oahu](/source/Oahu) and [Molokai](/source/Molokai), since there are no records from other Hawaiian islands. It probably became extinct due to habitat degradation and the introduction of the [Pacific rat](/source/Pacific_rat) by early [Polynesians](/source/Polynesians). Since the wood harrier was most likely a ground breeder, it might have been affected severely by the colonization of Hawaii.[4]

## Discovery and taxonomy

In 1981, [Helen F. James](/source/Helen_F._James) and her husband [Storrs L. Olson](/source/Storrs_L._Olson) first discovered remains of a bird they believed to be an *[Accipiter](/source/Accipiter)* because of its proportions. This misidentification was also due to the poor material, consisting only of a few bones. They finally rejected their identification in 1991 after they had examined several other subfossil records of the bird and finally placed it in the genus *[Circus](/source/Circus_(bird))*. They named it *dossenus*, explaining the name as follows: “Latin, dossenus, a clown or jester, without which one cannot have a circus; especially applicable here because the species initially fooled us as to its generic placement.” They noted that the wide global extension of *Circus* would support this placement and added that there had been sightings of [northern harriers](/source/Northern_harrier) in Hawaii so that the evolution of a Hawaiian species of harrier would indeed seem plausible.[4]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-olson67_1-0)** Olson & James 1991, p. 67

1. **[^](#cite_ref-ziegler261_2-0)** Alan C. Ziegler: *Hawaiian natural history, ecology, and evolution.* University of Hawaii Press, 2002. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8248-2190-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8248-2190-4), p. 261

1. **[^](#cite_ref-pratt_3-0)** Harold Douglas Pratt: *The Hawaiian honeycreepers: Drepanidinae.* Oxford University Press, 2005. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-854653-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-854653-X), p. 233

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-olson85_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-olson85_4-1) Olson & James 1991, p. 85

## Bibliography

- [Storrs L. Olson](/source/Storrs_Lovejoy_Olson), [Helen F. James](/source/Helen_James): [*Descriptions of thirty-two new Species of Birds from the Hawaiian Islands.*](https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/om/om045.pdf) In: *Ornithological Monographs* 45, pp. 65–85, 1991. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-935868-54-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-935868-54-2)

Taxon identifiers Circus dossenus Wikidata: Q1419442 GBIF: 8969549 iNaturalist: 542658 Open Tree of Life: 7658558 Paleobiology Database: 336226

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