Montagu's Harrier
Circus pygargus
Also known as: Montague's Harrier
Habitat
Ground
Diet
VertFishScav
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
311 g
About This Species
A slim, migratory raptor of open farmland and steppe, it hunts by quartering low over crops and grassland with a light, buoyant flight, taking small mammals and ground-nesting birds. It breeds across Europe in summer and winters in sub-Saharan Africa. May through July, scanning open arable land at dawn or dusk, is the best time to watch its distinctive low hunting flight.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- It is strictly protected under the EU Birds Directive across its European breeding range, and because it nests directly in cereal fields, disturbance during incubation is both illegal and can cause outright nest failure.
- Keep well back from any located nest and do not approach fields where conservation groups have marked a nest site ahead of harvest; protections and enforcement differ outside the EU along its African wintering range.
LCAvesAccipitriformesAccipitridae
Seasonal Activity
422,610 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
Traits
- Diet
- VertFishScav
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 311 g
Photo
(c) Вячеслав Юсупов, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Вячеслав Юсупов
CC-BY-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.