Adult males are a pale grey colour females and immature birds are brown with a white rump and a long barred tail. This is because of the effect the hen harrier has on the grouse population particularly limiting the number available to shoot.
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The hen harrier is known as Britains most persecuted bird of prey It hunts grouse causing commercial grouse moors to illegally kill it But numbers are having a resurgence with a 100 per cent.
Hen harrier bird. The hen harrier Circus cyaneus is a bird of prey. Five long primary finger tips prominent in flight. The genus name Circus is derived from Ancient Greek kirkos meaning circle referring to a bird of prey named for its circling flight.
They have long narrow wings and a long narrow tail. These large raptors wheel and soar above the moorland and in late spring perform a spectacular sky dance exchanging tokens of their affection in mid-air to cement their bond. The hen harrier is a slim bird.
Medium-sized harrier flies with wings held in a V-shape low over open fields and marshes listening for rodents lurking below. The male is blue-grey and the female brown and both have the characteristic white rump. The hen harrier earned its name from once targeting free-range fowl for their prey.
While many taxonomic authorities split the northern harrier and the hen harrier into distinct species. 95 of a hen harriers diet is made up of small mammals but they do eat a small proportion of other birds including song birds such as meadow pipits shorebirds waterfowl and grouse. My immediate thought was bird of prey followed by harrier.
In the breeding season UK birds are to be found on the upland heather moorlands of Wales Northern England Northern Ireland and Scotland as well as the Isle of Man. Cant be not in this neck of the woods northish DevonCornwall. Females are brown above and streaky below with a white rump and a banded tail.
Adult male has plain mid-gray wings with black wingtips and paler belly. Of the UKs birds of prey this is the most intensively persecuted. Females and immatures are warm brown with streaky breasts.
The victim this time was a female Hen Harrier called Mary who hatched in the summer of 2019 from a nest on the Isle of Man and met her tragic end in a field in Drumconrath Co. Click here for more information about the Red List categories and criteria Justification of Red List category This species has an extremely large range and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion extent of occurrence. The elegant hen harrier is perhaps the most iconic bird of prey in the uplands of northern England but it is also one of the most endangered birds in Britain.
This comes with the downside of being the most intensively persecuted bird of prey in the UK. Only a tiny handful of pairs now nest in parts of upland England. Of the UKs birds of prey this is the most intensively persecuted.
The hen harrier lives in open areas with low vegetation. Distinctive foraging behavior and conspicuous white patch on rump in all plumages. Before banking I noted the underside was grey as too was the topside as it turned.
Distribution Found in Scotland and parts of upland Wales Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The Hen Harrier is one of Irelands most spectacular and exciting Bird species One of the most striking things about the Hen Harrier is that the male and female differ remarkably in size and colour. Go to bird guide Declines in population In 1800 hen harriers were common and widespread across the UK but by 1850 when driven grouse shooting became popular records show hen harriers were routinely shot and by 1900 they were persecuted practically to.
A bird glided from behind me and banked to the right. The Hen Harrier is a slender and beautiful bird of prey. The specific cyaneus is Latin meaning dark-blue.
A male Hen Harrier a grey ghost elegantly flying back and forth just above the vegetation over a misty moorland is a sight that once seen is never forgotten. Hen Harriers are one of the birds that is absolutely distinctive of upland habitats but sadly it is also one of our most threatened. I had a look and the only one to show was a hen harrier.
Feeding on grouse brings them into direct conflict with moorland that is being managed for. BirdWatch Ireland Irelands largest conservation charity is utterly appalled by the illegal killing of yet another protected bird of prey in Ireland. Males are blue-grey with a white rump pale underside and black wing tips.
The genus name of the hen harrier Circus comes from Ancient Greek kirkos and means circle which refers to a bird of prey named for its circling flight. The term hen harrier refers to the birds former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. In winter they move to lowland farmland heathland coastal.
The specific name cyaneus is Latin and means dark-blue.
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