Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

1st alternative:
      Field/Pasture 
      or Sedge Meadow 

2nd alternative:
      or (Lowland Brush or Bog)
   adjacent to:
      Sedge Meadow

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: The Northern Harrier is a bird of open landscape: meadows, inland and coastal marshes, cultivated and uncultivated fields, moorlands, and prairies are all suitable habitats. Wet meadows are preferred nesting habitat, though prairies and uncultivated fields may also be used.

Nests are constructed on the ground in association with shrubs. At 184 nest sites in Wisconsin, Hammerstrom and Kopeny found willows, sedges, and goldenrod to be the most important plant groups influencing nest site locations.

Two land-use management practices would help to increase populations. The first is to reverse the loss of wetlands. The second is to increase the acreage of hay planted in the state. One way this could be accomplished is by greater use of grass hay (favored by meadow voles) in crop rotation. The use of perches should be explored as a possible management practice. Harriers spend approximately 57% of their foraging time on perches. These perches are low to the ground: fence posts, grass hummocks, large stones, and small shrubs. Since pastures and uncultivated fields, grasslands, and hayfields are usually devoid of the last three perches, the placement of posts could increase the quality of the habitat, helping to preserve this beneficial and majestic bird in Michigan.

Habitat: Breeding: Open country, fresh or saltwater marshes, swamps and bogs, wet meadows. Wintering: Coastal marshes.

Special Habitat Requirements: Open country with herbaceous or low woody vegetation for nest concealment.

Habitat: Marshes, fields, prairies. Found in many kinds of open terrain, both wet and dry habitats, where there is good ground cover. Often found in marshes, especially in nesting season, but sometimes will nest in dry open fields.

Diet: Mostly small mammals and birds. Diet varies with location and season. Often specializes on voles, rats, or other rodents; also takes other mammals, up to size of small rabbits. May eat many birds, from songbirds up to the size of flickers, doves, small ducks. Also eats large insects (especially grasshoppers), snakes, lizards, toads, frogs. May feed on carrion, especially in winter.

Nest: Site is on ground in dense field or marsh, sometimes low over shallow water. Nest may be shallow depression lined with grass, or platform of sticks, grass, weeds.