Day 417#: Northern Harrier
Today's animal of the day is the Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)!
Also known as the marsh or ring-tailed hawk, this species of predatory bird is native to North and Central America and prefers to inhabit wide open areas, such as prairies, grasslands, and marshes. Unlike some species of hawks, like the red-tailed hawk, where the sexes only differ in size, northern harriers are sexually dimorphic and possess distinct male and female plumages. Males are mostly gray with white bellies and black wingtips. Because of this coloration, they're sometimes called "gray ghosts". Females, on the other hand, are brown with white bellies and are usually larger than the males.
Northern harriers mostly feed on small mammals, such as voles, rats, and squirrels, though they'll also occasionally hunt frogs, lizards, large insects, and bats when their normal food sources are scarce. Males will sometimes hunt small birds as well, and both sexes will sometimes also kill larger prey, like rabbits, but for the most part they tend to go for smaller mammalian prey. As such, they're actually pretty well-liked by farmers, since unlike other types of hawks, they usually don't go after chickens and help keep mice and rats away. Northern harriers also tend to fly surprisingly close to the ground while hunting, and while they still have pretty good eyesight, they more so use their sense of hearing to find prey. Like owls, their faces are vaguely shaped like satellite dishes, which helps them better locate the exact location of their prey.
Photo credit: Krunal Desai
Depending on where they live, northern harriers will sometimes travel down south for the winter and then back north during the breeding season. Though in same areas, such as the American midwest and the northern Atlantic states, they will stay in the same general area all year round. During the breeding season, males will attract females by performing elaborate aerial displays and flashing their silvery feathers. If a female likes him, she will join him in the sky dance. Nests are usually built on or close to the ground, and females usually end up doing most of the incubation while the males bring them food.
Photo credit: Ord Photouff
Once the chicks hatch, males will only spend five minutes at a time at the nest in order to drop off food, and eventually they will just start to give food to the females so they can feed it to the chicks instead. Yeah, male northern harriers aren't the greatest dads of the bird world, but they're not the worst either. Unlike many other species of raptors, the males of this species are also sometimes polyamorous and will have up to five mates in a single breeding season! The females often continue bringing food to the chicks for a bit longer after the male stops, and will eventually start bringing in live prey back to the nest so the chicks can practice hunting for themselves. It takes 36 days for the chicks to fledge, and 2-3 years for them to reach sexual maturity.
Photo credit: Pablo Bamaca
While northern harriers are currently listed as least concern, there has been a noticeable decline in their population in the last ten years. This is likely due to habitat loss as well as the use of harmful pesticides, which can make harriers and other predators sick if they eat enough mice and rats that also ate food laced with poison. This very thing actually caused a massive decline in their populations back in the 70s and 80s, similar to how the bald eagle was being poisoned. Other (more natural) threats to northern harriers include predators like raccoons, crows, skunks, badgers, and foxes eating their eggs and hatchlings. They also often compete with great horned and short-eared owls over food and territory, and these three species of birds will often go out of their way to steal food from each other, though usually it seems that the harriers are initiating these acts of rodent piracy more often than the owls are.
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