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Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus Family: Accipitridae (Eagles, Kites & Hawks)  |
Description: Pearly gray, white below, female is brown above. Most soaring birds have long outer feathers, or primaries, which look like spread fingers when they are soaring with their wings fully spread. Consistent with hawk profiles, the Northern Harrier has a strong hooked beak for tearing apart small animals, and taloned or clawed feet that can also seize and kill small animals. Nesting: They construct a ground nest of sticks and plant stems like grasses, straw. They may return to the same nesting site every year. Chicks hatch covered in soft down. Hatchlings don't begin to develop primary feathers until after several weeks. Range: (May - August) Breeds from Northern Alaska to southern Quebec and Newfoundland. Winters from southern British Columbia, southern Ontario, and Massachusetts south through the United States, Middle America, and the West Indies to northern South America.
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