Pallid Harrier

How to identify

Field marks

1. Male upperparts grayish-white, underparts white, with a narrow black area at wingtips
2. Female upperparts brown, uppertail-coverts white
3. Female underparts pale yellowish-brown with brown streaks
4. Wings long, held in a shallow V in low flight

Male, female and young

Sexes differ in plumage; females and similar-looking juveniles are often called “ringtails”.

Similar species

Hen Harrier

Male Pallid Harrier is smaller, with narrower wings, paler color and a different wingtip pattern.

Montagu's Harrier

Female closely resembles female Montagu's Harrier, but Pallid Harrier has a paler belly and a more distinct face pattern.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: September · Most records: India, Kenya, Tanzania

Pallid Harrier has been recorded at 778 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 94 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Tal Chhapar SanctuaryIndia775 records
2. Bardena – Galugah Raptor Count SiteIran591 records
3. Sakhalvasho Raptor WatchpointGeorgia531 records

Countries and regions with the most records

IndiaKenyaTanzaniaIsraelGeorgiaUnited Arab EmiratesKuwaitTürkiye

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The pallid harrier (Circus macrourus) is a species of harrier, a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It breeds in southern parts of eastern Europe and central Asia and Iran and winters mainly in India and southeast Asia. It is a rare but increasing vagrant to Great Britain and western Europe.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions