Saturday 16 March 2019

Pied Harrier (Circus melanoleucos)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Circus (bird named for circling flight) melanoleucos ("black and white")
Adult male Pied Harrier (Circus melanoleucos) at Florican Grasslands, Cambodia - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 250-450g  /  Length: 45cm  /  Wingspan: 115cm
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

While the harriers found in the UK are primarily various tones of grey and brown, the male Pied Harrier is, as the name suggests, a striking black and white bird.  They are a species with fairly local breeding range, broadly centred around the Amur River, but in Winter head to Southern Asia across a wide range of areas including Kashmir, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.  Their hunting pattern seems to match that of other harriers, but they seem to travel in large flocks on passage.

Related Species:
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Circus
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -
CAMBODIA Khmer: រអាតក្បាលខ្មៅ ("Black head")
A local Winter visitor.
SINGAPORE / CAMBODIA 2019 TRIP - Two seen at Florican Grassland Reserve

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

No comments:

Post a Comment