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Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) Alternate name(s): "Eurasian Marsh Harrier", "Marsh Harrier" German name(s): "Rohrweihe" Size: 43-54 cm; wing span 1.15-1.3 m Weight: 400-650 g (male), 500-800 g (female)

Europe: Family Group 6 Family Group 6 Table Lammergeier Eurasian Black Vulture Griffon Vulture Rueppell's Vulture Egyptian Vulture Osprey White-tailed Eagle Golden Eagle Spanish Imperial Eagle Short-toed Snake Eagle Bonelli's Eagle Booted Eagle Red Kite Black Kite European Honey Buzzard Common Buzzard Rough-legged Buzzard Long-legged Buzzard Western Marsh Harrier Hen Harrier Montagu's Harrier Pallid Harrier Black-winged Kite Eurasian Sparrowhawk Gyrfalcon Peregrine Falcon Common Kestrel Merlin Eurasian Hobby Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Western Marsh Harriers are medium-sized birds of prey. Their highly cryptic plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Male Western Marsh Harriers have a brown to reddish-brown front with lighter streaks and mostly dark grey-brown wings with light-grey streaks on the shoulders. The primaries are dark-grey. The head is heavily streaked grey and brown, with an owl-like facial mask similar to that of other species of harriers. The irises are yellow; the bill is yellow with a black tip. The legs and feet are also yellow. Females are dark-brown overall, with greyish tips to the wing coverts and the tail. Their chin, frons and crown are light-brown to ochre. The irises are orange-brown. The bill is greyish-yellow with a black tip. The legs and feet are also greyish-yellow. Juvenile Western Marsh Harriers by and large resemble females, but without the ochre tints.

Taxonomy, classification See Western Marsh Harrier at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Western Marsh Harrier is available HERE . Western Marsh Harriers are a partly migratory species. Some consider the sedentary population found in North-west Africa, from northern Marocco via northern Algeria to northern Tunisia (the Atlas mountain range and nearby coastal fringe), to be a race, "harteri", which is separate from the highly migratory nominate race, "aeruginosus". Race "aeruginosus" is permanently present in parts of western Europe, around the Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, along the coastal fringe of Lebanon and Israel/Palestine and all around the Black Sea, along the South coast of the Caspian Sea and around the Euphrates/Tigris confluence in the border region of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and southern Iran. During the northern summers they extend their breeding range into eastern Europe and central Asia, to a line connecting the southern Finnish coastline with the north-western part of China. The southern boundary of their breeding range is the latitude of the southern Caspian Sea coastline. The migratory populations spend the northern winters in one of several areas: The river Nile valley, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of central eastern Africa, southern Yemen, the border region between the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia or on the Indian subcontinent, from southern Pakistan to the border of Bangladesh with Burma, including Sri Lanka. In Europe Western Marsh Harriers, race "aeruginosus", are permanent residents in south-eastern England, the Benelux countries and most of France (except the eastern part), in all of Iberia, around the Mediterranean Sea, including the Mediterranean islands, from the Adriatic coastline to the Hungarian Pusta, in all of Greece, Macedonia, southern Romania and Bulgaria and all around the Black Sea. Their summer breeding range encompasses all of the rest of Europe, except most of Scandinavia and northern European Russia. They do not the rest of the British Isles either. While Western Swamp Harriers are found in both the Pyrenees and the Alps, they do not enter the Caucasus mountain range. Western Marsh Harriers have a strong preference for aquatic habitats, around both fresh water and saline water. During the breeding season they require dense cover for the nest, such as e.g. reeds.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "aeruginosus" D. Wilczynska reports spotting a Western Marsh Harrier, race "aeruginosus", near the river Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, in August 2016. J. Pires reports spotting Western Marsh Harriers, race "aeruginosus", semi-regularly since 2017 in the area of the Tejo estuary to Mora, Evora, Portugal. Another was found at Embalse de Los Canchales, near Merida, Montijo, Spain, in December 2019. G. Normand reports finding a Western Marsh Harrier, race "aeruginosus", near Saint Omer, between Lille and Boulogne-sur-Mer, Hauts-de-France, France, in June 2020.

Photos

Race "aeruginosus"

ADULT

MALE

Near-lateral view of a male Western Marsh Harrier (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo Estuary Nature Reserve, Portugal, November 2019]

Frontal view of a male Western Marsh Harrier in gliding flight (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

Near-frontal view of a (dark morphology) male Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, May 2020]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a (dark morphology) male Western Marsh Harrier in flight, possibly still moulting into adult plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, May 2020]

Lateral view of a male Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, March 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of a (dark morphology) male Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, May 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of a male Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of G. Normand)
[Near Saint Omer, between Lille and Boulogne-sur-Mer, Hauts-de-France, France, June 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of a male Western Marsh Harrier, with a clear view of its underwing pattern
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, February 2023]

Lateral/ventral view of a male Western Marsh Harrier, with a clear view of its underwing pattern
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, February 2023]

Male Western Marsh Harrier banking to dive down on its prey (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Brok, Masovia, Poland, August 2016]

FEMALE

Near-frontal view of a female Western Marsh Harrier (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, March 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a female Western Marsh Harrier (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila France de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2020]

Distant frontal view of a female Western Marsh Harrier in flight; note the long, dangling legs (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Odemira, Beja, Portugal, October 2018]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a female(?) Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a female(?) Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a female Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Alcacer do sal, Setubal, Portugal, December 2018]

Lateral view of a female Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2019]

Lateral view of a female Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Embalse de Los Canchales, near Merida, Montijo, Spain, December 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a female(?) Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Near Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-frontal view of a second-summer immature male(?) Western Marsh Harrier in low flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo Estuary Nature Reserve, Portugal, January 2018]

Near-frontal view of a second-year immature male Western Marsh Harrier in low flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo Estuary, Portugal, January 2020]

Near-frontal/ventral view of a second-summer immature male(?) Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo Estuary Nature Reserve, Portugal, July 2019]

Lateral/ventral view of a second-summer immature male(?) Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sorraia River, near Mora, Evora, Portugal, January 2019]

Lateral view of a juvenile Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral view of a juvenile Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Raia river, Mora, Evora, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of a juvenile Western Marsh Harrier in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, January 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of a juvenile Western Marsh Harrier in low flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2020]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

More Western Marsh Harrier sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Fri, 14 April 2023, 1:24 +00:00