Hawks & Eagles

Northern Harrier

Amerikanische Kornweihe

Circus hudsonius

Hawks & Eagles2 photosFirst seen: 12 July 2026

The Northern Harrier is a slim raptor with long wings, a long tail and a conspicuous white rump. It hunts low over marshes, grassland and fields with its wings held in a shallow V. A facial ruff helps it locate small mammals and birds partly by sound. Adult males are pale grey, while females and young birds are brown. The nest is placed on the ground in dense vegetation.

ID tip: A bright white rump patch at the base of a long tail, seen on a bird quartering low with raised wings, rules out every other North American raptor.

First seen: 12 July 2026 · Grays Harbor Wildlife Refuge · 2 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

Grays Harbor Wildlife Refuge12 July 2026

Family: Hawks & Eagles (Accipitridae)
Length: 41–50 cm
Wingspan: 97–122 cm
Regional status: Year-round resident (Pacific Northwest, USA)
Conservation: Least Concern LCIUCN Red List · retrieved 27 August 2026
Habitat: Marshes, wet meadows, estuary flats and open fields
Diet: Voles and other small mammals, plus small birds

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Northern Harrier

Places in my records

Selected photographs