|
|
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| | ;Circus macrourus | | ;Circus macrourus |
| − | [[Image:Pallid_Harrier.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by Red Bishop]] | + | [[Image:Pallid_Harrier.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by Red Bishop <br/> Location: Israel, Western Negev]] |
| | + | |
| | | | |
| − | Location: Israel, Western Negev
| |
| | ==Identification== | | ==Identification== |
| − | The Pale or Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family.
| + | Male - white-grey above and white below, narrow black wingtips. Female - brown above, white upper tail coverts, underparts streaked with brown. |
| − | This is a typical harrier, with long wings held in a shallow V in its low flight. It also resembles other harriers in having distinct male and female plumages. The male is whitish grey above and white below, with narrow black wingtips. It differs from the Hen Harrier in its smaller size, narrower wings, pale colour different wing tip pattern.
| |
| − | | |
| − | The female is brown above with white upper tail coverts, hence females and the similar juveniles are often called "ringtails". Her underparts are buff streaked with brown. It is best distinguished from the female Hen Harrier on structure. It is very similar to the female Montagu's Harrier, but has darker and more unifom secondaries from below.
| |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | ==Distribution== | | ==Distribution== |
| − | Eurasia and Africa. Breeds in east Romania, the Ukraine and southern Russia eastwards to western Sinkiang. | + | [[Eurasia]] and [[Africa]]. |
| − | A summer visitor to breeding range and occurs as a passage migrant throughout South-East Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Good numbers are seen on passage at Borka in Turkey in September-October but the return movement is more westerly and a few are regularly seen at Cap Bon. More than 100 have been recorded crossing the Straits of Messina, Sicily in spring. Small numbers winter in Greece, Iraq, Egypt and North Tunisia but most western birds cross the Sahara to winter from Senegal east to Ethiopia and south to the Cape. Eastern birds winter in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, South-East Asia and southern China.
| |
| − | The Pallid Harrier is an irruptive species frequently appearing and sometimes even nesting far out of the normal range. Breeding has occurred in Finland and Sweden, Germany and in several Central European countries. There is also a record of a mixed Pallid-Hen Harrier pair nesting in Scotland but otherwise this is a very rare vagrant to Britain with about 14 records. These have been widely spread from Shetland to Cornwall but nearly half have been in the Northern Isles. Elsewhere vagrants have been recorded west to Spain and the Canary Islands. It breeds in southern parts of eastern Europe and central Asia and winters mainly in India and southeast Asia. It is a very rare vagrant to Great Britain and western Europe, although remarkably a juvenile wintered in Norfolk in the winter of 2002/3.
| |
| − | | |
| | ==Taxonomy== | | ==Taxonomy== |
| | ==Habitat== | | ==Habitat== |
| − | Breeds on dry steppes, on passage and winter also found in grasslands and cornfields. This medium-sized raptor breeds on open plains, bogs and heathland. In winter it is a bird of open country.
| + | Dry steppes, grasslands and cornfields. ==Behaviour== |
| − | ==Behaviour== | + | They hunt small mammals, lizards and birds, surprising them as they drift low over fields and moors. |
| − | Pallid Harriers hunt small mammals, lizards and birds, surprising them as they drift low over fields and moors.
| |
| | | | |
| | The nest of this species is on the ground. Four to six whitish eggs are laid. | | The nest of this species is on the ground. Four to six whitish eggs are laid. |
- Circus macrourus
Photo by Red Bishop
Location: Israel, Western Negev
Identification
Male - white-grey above and white below, narrow black wingtips. Female - brown above, white upper tail coverts, underparts streaked with brown.
Distribution
Eurasia and Africa.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Dry steppes, grasslands and cornfields. ==Behaviour==
They hunt small mammals, lizards and birds, surprising them as they drift low over fields and moors.
The nest of this species is on the ground. Four to six whitish eggs are laid.
Bird Song
<flashmp3>Circus macrourus (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
External Links
