Northern Harrier

Circus hudsonius

Accipitriformes / Accipitridae · North America, open country · first seen January 2024 · 15 sightings

Northern Harrier perched in soft morning light — Late spring, rising light.

Northern Harrier hunting along a shoreline — First light in September.

There is no single easy ID on the northern harrier; there are three or four, and you learn them one trip at a time.

Perch posture is half the ID. A northern harrier hunched, a northern harrier alert, and a northern harrier in the wind look like three different birds.

Taxonomy here follows a standard order-level frame (Accipitriformes / Accipitridae); common synonymies are noted when I’ve seen them used in the field.

The best individual bird I’ve had was hunting in thin morning light, long enough for me to watch rather than shoot for once.

I’m still bad at sexing juvenile northern harriers in the first year, and I suspect I always will be.