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Hen Harrier
Circus cyaneus
Identify the Hen Harrier by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Hen Harrier is a slim, long-winged raptor of open country across Eurasia, breeding on moors, bogs, marshes and grasslands. Males are strikingly pale grey with black wingtips, while the larger females and juveniles are brown, streaked “ringtails”; all show a conspicuous white rump. Over much of its range it migrates south after breeding, though birds in milder regions stay year-round. It hunts with buoyant, low quartering flight.
Did you know?
- It is one of the few raptors known to be polygynous.
- Its owl-like facial disc helps it hear prey while hunting.
Voice
About the species
Identification
A clear white rump shows in flight. The male is pale grey with black wingtips; females and young are brownish and heavily streaked below. The flight is low and buoyant over open country, with wings often in a shallow V. Compared with Montagu's and Pallid Harriers it is bulkier and broader-winged.
Family
Accipitridae
Size
Large (crow)
Colours
brown, grey, white, black
About the habitat
Open country: heather moorland, peat bogs, marshes, wet meadows, clear-cuts, coastal dunes and low-intensity farmland.
Diet
Mainly small mammals, especially voles, and small birds; also frogs, reptiles and large insects.
Behaviour
Quarters low over open ground with buoyant, tilting flight and wings in a shallow V, locating prey partly by sound with the help of its owl-like facial disc. In spring males perform a dramatic sky-dance. It nests on the ground in low, dense vegetation; the male does most of the hunting and passes food to the female in mid-air. Males may be polygynous. Outside the breeding season birds often roost communally.
Sources
Photo: Stephan Sprinz, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weibliche Kornweihe (circus cyaneus) - Spiekeroog, Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer.jpg
Sound: Benoît Van Hecke, XC558933, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/558933
Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_harrier
 - Spiekeroog, Nationalpark Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer.jpg){kind=link}