Northern Harrier
Circus hudsonius
Summary 4
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Description 5
The northern harrier is 41–52 cm (16–20 in) long with a 97–122 cm (38–48 in) wingspan. It resembles other harriers in having distinct male and female plumages. The sexes also differ in weight, with males weighing 290 to 400 g (10 to 14 oz), with an average of 350 g (12 oz), and females weighing 390 to 750 g (14 to 26 oz), with an average of 530 g (19 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 32.8 to 40.6 cm (12.9 to 16.0 in), the tail is 19.3 to 25.8 cm (7.6 to 10.2 in) and the tarsus is 7.1 to 8.9 cm (2.8 to 3.5 in). It is relatively long winged and long tailed, having the longest wing and tail relative to its body size of any raptor occurring in North America.
The northern harrier has been split from the hen harrier by some taxonomists based on genetic analysis. It breeds in North America and its closest relative is the Cinereous Harrier (C. cinereus). The male's plumage is darker grey than that of the hen harrier and the female is also darker and more rufous. The adult male is sometimes nicknamed the "Grey Ghost", because of his striking plumage and spectral aura.
The female gives a whistled piih-eh when receiving food from the male, and her alarm call is chit-it-it-it-it-et-it. The male calls chek-chek-chek, with a more bouncing chuk-uk-uk-uk during his display flight.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Donna Pomeroy, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Donna Pomeroy
- (c) Tom Benson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/40928097@N07/34927194584/
- (c) K Schneider, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.flickr.com/photos/zonotrichia/2150210352/
- Adapted by Natalie LaScala from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_hudsonius
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_harrier
