Scientific Name:   Circus hudsonius

Length:   18.1-19.7 in (46-50 cm)

Weight:   10.6-26.5 oz (300-750 g)

Wingspan:   40.2-46.5 in (102-118 cm)

Nest:   The nest is made with thick-stalked plants like cattails, alders, and willows. The inner lining uses grasses, sedges, and rushes. Nest building takes 1–2 weeks. The outside of the nest measures 16–24 inches wide by 1.5–8 inches high, while the interior is 8–10 inches wide by 2–4 inches deep.

Eggs:   4-6, sometimes 2-7, rarely more. Pale bluish-white, fading to white and becoming nest-stained; sometimes spotted with pale brown.

Feeding Behavior:   They look for food while flying, gliding low over the ground. In the breeding season they eat small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. During winter, harriers in the northern part of the range feed almost exclusively on meadow voles; they also eat deer mice, house mice, shrews, rabbits, and songbirds. Harriers wintering in the southern part of their range eat cotton rats, house mice, harvest mice, rice rats, shrews, and songbirds.

Young:   Female remains with young most of time at first; male brings food and delivers it to female, who feeds it to young. After young are about 2 weeks old, female does much of the hunting for them. Young may move short distances away from nest after about a week, but return to nest to be fed; are able to fly at about 30-35 days.

Range:   The northern harrier migrates south in winter, with breeding birds in Canada and northern Great Plains of the U.S. moving to the American south, Mexico, and Central America. In the midwestern, mountain west, and north Atlantic states of the U.S., they may be present all year.

Brief Description:   They have a flat, owl-like face and a small, sharply hooked bill. Harriers often fly with their wings held in a V-shape above the horizontal. The male's plumage is darker grey than that of the hen harrier, and the female is also darker. The adult male is sometimes nicknamed the "Grey Ghost", because of his striking plumage and spectral aura.