View Full Version : Northern Harriers
Toolshed
02-15-2010, 20:48
Every so often on the trail or where I live (Not far from the trail) I will see a very large bird that is white beneath, soaring and slowly flapping come out of the woods and and glide/flap across a field into another set of trees and the wheel around and out of site. I always considered these "ghosts of the forest: because they were silent and floated along in the open but seemed to quickly move through open woodlands.
At first I thought they were a large owl or an osprey because of the color and the size.
Well today one kept flying back and forth across our hill and over the house, going in and out of the woods on either side. I glassed it and then broke out my birding books to find out that I believe it is a northern Harrier. The wingspan must be close to 5' wide.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen this beautiful bird..... and either knew what it was immediately, or like me had been wondering...
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Harrier/lifehistory (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Harrier/lifehistory)
Google returns pages of images (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=Circus+cyaneus&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=).
Toolshed
02-15-2010, 21:16
From your link Emerald:
"Unlike other hawks, the Northern Harrier relies on its hearing as well as its vision to capture prey. The feathers of the face are stiff to help transmit sound, and it shows a pronounced "facial disk," much like that of an owl."
It explains why I thought it might have been a huge owl. also I usually see these guys in the edges of the woods when I paddle on some of the isolated finger lakes (Canadice, Hemlock...) which is why I thought they might have been ospreys..
thanks for the link
Shutterbug
02-15-2010, 21:39
Every so often on the trail or where I live (Not far from the trail) I will see a very large bird that is white beneath, soaring and slowly flapping come out of the woods and and glide/flap across a field into another set of trees and the wheel around and out of site. I always considered these "ghosts of the forest: because they were silent and floated along in the open but seemed to quickly move through open woodlands.
At first I thought they were a large owl or an osprey because of the color and the size.
Well today one kept flying back and forth across our hill and over the house, going in and out of the woods on either side. I glassed it and then broke out my birding books to find out that I believe it is a northern Harrier. The wingspan must be close to 5' wide.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen this beautiful bird..... and either knew what it was immediately, or like me had been wondering...
Because of the banded tail feathers, they look a lot like a Cooper's Hawk.
I've seen these guys a few times flying low over fields looking for critters. The white rump patch is a dead give away, sticks out like a sore thumb.
Are you sure you're seeing a harrier? They're almost always found over fields (usually quite low to the ground). I can't recall ever having seen one in a forest. In fact, you don't see them in forested areas in general--they're grassland/marsh birds.
berkshirebirder
03-08-2010, 17:19
A number of pieces of information help when trying to ID wildlife or plants. The bird was seen in February in which state? You mention the bird's size (large), color of the underside (white), and wing action (slow flapping). So far, so good.
There are a couple of things that might help make the ID if you could give a bit more detail. It sounds as if you see this bird or ones like it regularly or now and then, is that right? In other words, it's not a rare species?
You see the bird in trees along water, but you also mention that it flies INTO the woods. Raptors generally can be seen perched on a branch at the edge of woods. But not all raptors are designed to fly among trees in the woods. Accipiters (sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks and Northern goshawks) do this in pursuit of prey.
The N. goshawk is a large accipiter (wingspan up to 4') with a light underside (no reddish barring). It's not as common as other raptors, though.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Goshawk/id (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Goshawk/id)
I agree with burger that harriers typically are seen flying low over marshes and fields, so that would tend to rule out N. harrier.
If you see this bird again, try to determine its head shape. Owls have large, puffy heads in relation to their body--they appear neckless compared to raptors.
Cookerhiker
03-08-2010, 17:28
I've got lots of photos of Northern Harrier:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/browseimages.php?do=searchresults&catid=searchresults&searchid=30468
Actually, this thread is very helpful. When he did his thruhike in '04, virtually no fellow hikers knew his trail name was taken after the raptor. And as he grew his thruhiker beard, many thought his trail name was Northern Hairier.
One of the best places I know of to see the Northern Harrier is from the AT in Vernon NJ where it passes through the Wallkill River Wildlife Refuge. I think the area was once a sod farm. You can often see 6-8 Harriers patrolling the marsh at the same time.
berkshirebirder
03-08-2010, 18:09
The Wallkill Refuge sounds like a great place for many kinds of birds and definitely for N. Harrier. Very nice slideshow on their home page--check it out
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/wallkillriver/
If you've seen other interesting bird species along the Trail, it would be great to have them included on the A.T. Bird List. There should be new posts about the List later this month, as Spring arrives in Georgia and points north.
The Wallkill Refuge sounds like a great place for many kinds of birds and definitely for N. Harrier. Very nice slideshow on their home page--check it out
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/wallkillriver/
If you've seen other interesting bird species along the Trail, it would be great to have them included on the A.T. Bird List. There should be new posts about the List later this month, as Spring arrives in Georgia and points north.
Wallkill River NWR is a very birdy spot. I had black scoters there on a section hike last spring and tons of other migrants, too.
Toolshed
03-08-2010, 21:26
A number of pieces of information help when trying to ID wildlife or plants. The bird was seen in February in which state? You mention the bird's size (large), color of the underside (white), and wing action (slow flapping). So far, so good.
There are a couple of things that might help make the ID if you could give a bit more detail. It sounds as if you see this bird or ones like it regularly or now and then, is that right? In other words, it's not a rare species?
You see the bird in trees along water, but you also mention that it flies INTO the woods. Raptors generally can be seen perched on a branch at the edge of woods. But not all raptors are designed to fly among trees in the woods. Accipiters (sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks and Northern goshawks) do this in pursuit of prey.
The N. goshawk is a large accipiter (wingspan up to 4') with a light underside (no reddish barring). It's not as common as other raptors, though.
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Goshawk/id (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Goshawk/id)
I agree with burger that harriers typically are seen flying low over marshes and fields, so that would tend to rule out N. harrier.
If you see this bird again, try to determine its head shape. Owls have large, puffy heads in relation to their body--they appear neckless compared to raptors.
So, all nice points. I see this bird flying about 60' above the deck in filed, but it always seems to dissapear just above treetops or at treetops into woods. We have 4 1/2 acres of field and our neighbors in common have about another 60-70 acres along and on top of our hill, so there is plenty of field for them to fly along.
Their wingspans are bigger than redtails, buit fly in a similiar pattern as far as wingflaps go (I watched 3 redtails lazily cirlcing our fields yesterday for about 15 minutes.)
I will definitely keep my eyes peeled and try to look closer for more identifying marks.
berkshirebirder
03-08-2010, 22:15
It will be fun to see if we can pin down an ID. Any raptor can be seen flying at treetop level, so we won't rule out harrier yet.
If it's a harrier (males are pale underneath, have black wingtips, and are smaller than the females), at some point you should see it flying slowly and low over the fields searching for prey. They're very graceful and a joy to watch.
Tail markings are another field mark for raptors, but it's not easy to notice several things at once on a flying bird. If you have more than a few seconds' look from below, see if the tail looks dark overall or if it's dark only at the tip.
I lived in Vernon, if your talking about where the trail goes through the dark marsh it was an onion field turned bird sanctuary; but don't quote me on that one. I currently live above Milford, PA (close to Vernon and High Point on the trail) and there is always an abundance of birds to see. I love sitting in the Poconos at my home here in PA and listening to all the bird song.
Every so often on the trail or where I live (Not far from the trail) I will see a very large bird that is white beneath, soaring and slowly flapping come out of the woods and and glide/flap across a field into another set of trees and the wheel around and out of site. I always considered these "ghosts of the forest: because they were silent and floated along in the open but seemed to quickly move through open woodlands.
At first I thought they were a large owl or an osprey because of the color and the size.
Well today one kept flying back and forth across our hill and over the house, going in and out of the woods on either side. I glassed it and then broke out my birding books to find out that I believe it is a northern Harrier. The wingspan must be close to 5' wide.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen this beautiful bird..... and either knew what it was immediately, or like me had been wondering...
Also known as the Marsh Hawk here in NY, beautiful to watch as they glide barely over the ground cover of open fields and wetlands, hunting rodents.
They are a staple at Croton Point Park (excellant birding area) on the Hudson in Westchester county
Northern Harrier
04-24-2010, 13:58
The Northern Harrier was the inspiration for my trail name when I hiked the AT in 2004. I saw one just before I retired in Dec 03 and figured it was a sign. With a middle name of Harrison and being a Yankee, it seemed like a good fit. Equally interesting to me personally is that they used to be called Marsh Hawks. Having grown up on coastal New Jersey there are still a lot of them over the coastal marshes. (see Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge for instance). I never saw one while I was hiking the AT however. They apparently prefer to fly over relative flat areas - fields and marshes. Northern Harriers are the only ones on the North Amercian continent - there are apparently several other varieities in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. White rump is pretty easy way to distinguish them from other medium large raptors. - NH
Northern Harrier
04-24-2010, 14:00
Not unusual to see them coming out of the woods - next to fields or marshes. They don't roost on the ground.
If you see a hawk hovering low over a field or marsh, chances are its one of these. No doubt that ability is why they named the Harrier Jump Jet what they did.
Did you ever figure this out? Doesn't sound like a harrier. They often hunt very low over fields and will stop and sit for a little bit before taking off again. Look for a white rump as well. Have also seen one calling overhead while soaring, but this is probably pretty rare to see.
Hard to say what you saw. 5' wingspan likely an exaggeration. What about red-tailed hawk? Can look pretty white below, and large, and kind of hang out in tree/open areas but not fields necessarily like harriers. Red-shouldered hawk another possibility. Goshawk also a big bird, possible in winter. But not sure where you live so hard to say.