Common name: Marsh Hawk
Scientific name: Circus Cyaneus
Identifying characteristics:
With his soft pearl-gray plumange, contrasting black primaries, and white rump and underparts, the male Northern Harrier is a stunningly beautiful bird. The female is duller, with a brown back, and similarly-colored sports and streaks on the underside, although she, too, has a white rump.
Range:
The Northern Harrier is distributed across the greater part of North America down to northwestern Mexico, and it breeds throughout most of this area.
Habitat:
Although found in many habitats, the Northern Harrier seems to prefer low-lying wetlands, open fields, and young conifer plantations.
Nesting:
The nest, usually in some hollow protected by vegetation, is made of small sticks, and various reeds and grasses. It varies in diameter from about 15 inches in dry situations to up to 3 feet, by several inches deep, in wet locations.
Feeding habits:
The species preys mainly on small songbirds and their fledglings, voles, and young rabbits, but it will also take frogs, small reptiles, and some insects.
Conservation status:
Maintaining reasonable numbers.
