- Circus melanoleucos
Identification
Adult male - head, nape, ,throat, breast, back, scapulars black, upper tail coverts white with grey barring, yellow eyes, yellow or green cere, feet yellow-orange.
Adult female - dark brown crown, nape, upper side, tail grey brown with 5 broad brown bands, white underpart, brown eyes, grey cere and yellow legs.
In display the male's call is keee-veeee and the female's a rapid kee-kee-kee, or a rapid chattering chak-chak-chak-chak-chak-chak, rather like the call of a magpie.
Distribution
East and South-East Asia.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Open grasslands, swamps, marshes and paddyfields.
Behaviour
Diet
Diet includes frogs, lizards, ground birds and insects.
Breeding
Nests made of grass, reeds and weeds are built on the ground. 4-5 white-green eggs are laid. The female incubates for 30 days and both parents feed the young.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Pied Harrier. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 9 December 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Pied_Harrier
