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Pallid Harrier

Pallid Harrier

Circus macrourus

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The Pallid Harrier is a slender, long-winged harrier of the open steppes of eastern Europe and Central Asia that winters in Africa and South Asia. Adult males are very pale grey with a neat black wedge at the wingtips, while brown females and juveniles show a sharp facial pattern and pale collar. It has been spreading west and north in Europe and has bred in several new countries, including the Netherlands and Spain.

Did you know?

  • In 2017 a pair bred in a Dutch barley field – the first breeding for the Netherlands.
  • Juveniles show a striking pale “boa” around the neck.

About the species

Identification

The male is very pale below and pale grey above, with a clear black wedge at the wingtip; the wings look pointed. The female is brown-mottled and paler below and resembles Hen Harrier; identification requires experience. Juveniles are rufous below with unstreaked breast, a bold pale collar and a paler trailing edge to the primaries than in Montagu's Harrier.

Family

Accipitridae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

grey, white, black

About the habitat

Open steppe, grassland, bogs and low crops, often near wetlands; on migration and in winter open farmland, heaths and coastal meadows.

Diet

Mainly small mammals, especially voles, and small birds; also large insects such as grasshoppers and locusts, lizards and frogs.

Behaviour

Hunts by quartering low over open ground with buoyant, tilting flight and wings in a shallow V, making sudden pounces. In courtship males perform a sky-dance. It nests on the ground in tall vegetation or crops, laying three to six eggs. Outside the breeding season it may roost communally with other harriers.

Sources

Photo: Shiv's fotografia, CC BY 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pallid harrier.jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallid_harrier

See also