Flag for Taxon: Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)
| Content Author | Object | Flagger | Flag Created | Reason | Resolved by | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) | upupa-epops | Mon, 14 Dec 2020 12:42:15 AM UTC |
does it need to be obscured in any of these states? |
victor_85 |
Comments
Harriers were once obscured in Oregon where I live. From my experience, harriers thrive in a variety of open habitats but I've noticed they are highly dependent on marshes, especially for nesting. I live by a place called Ladd Marsh and it's the largest marsh in the state because of conservation efforts to keep agriculture out of the vicinity. It's not that hard to find 20-30 harriers in the same stretch of marsh. But I do notice they get progressively harder to find once you're in habitats like agriculture, prairie or steppe, even so in the summertime. I think state obscuring decisions should be made on the amount of marsh habitat.
I would imagine the issues with this species are more to do with habitat loss than disturbance or poaching. I think opening it up in all or most of those states would be a good idea.
Yeah, I agree, I don't see why this species would be obscured.
Currently obscured in:
Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia
Compare NatureServe map: https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104766/Circus_hudsonius
I'm guessing the vast majority of observations are migrants and that breeding birds are more threatened by habitat loss than targeted disturbance. eBird does not list it as a sensitive species anywhere.