COLUMN: Harriers’ slow flight keeps them nimble when hunting

The northern harrier is a hawk found in the Willamette Valley. You won’t see one in a parking lot among the starlings, nor in a forest, or perched along Interstate 5 like a kestrel or red-tailed hawk.

Harriers have their particular needs and targets. And they do not form flocks aside from family groups.

Most often you can observe one cruising across a field, not 200 feet in the air. Close to the tops or grasses or reeds, they use their fine hearing to locate prey hidden from sight. Long wings allow this bird to fly more slowly than many airborne hunters. If they hear something they can drop on it instantly.

A speeding falcon, for example, would whiz past, have to stop, and then circle back. So falcons often catch prey in the air – a bird or insect that cannot move fast enough. The harrier’s slowness can lead to a quick kill of prey on the ground. I have often seen one actually stalking across a field, looking and listening for a hint of vole or snake.

The ground around them matters greatly. The female harrier nests on the ground. Any area that is mowed or plowed or hosting cattle is rarely useful for nesting. Maybe not even for hunting harriers. Here in the Willamette you can find harriers at a wildlife refuge, or other protected open space. Along the coast they’ll hunt wetlands.

The male harrier is a pale gray. Some birders refer to him as the “gray ghost.” Young and all females are a rich brown color.

In harrier country you may see several brown ones hunting, even dining al fresco in a field. Then you might be lucky enough to see a pale gray one, smaller than the females. He is a trimmed-down hunter, not an extra inch, not an extra ounce. Efficient hunting is his purpose.

And the male harrier is one of nature’s most instructive creatures. A fraction of the adult males try to accumulate a harem of female mates. In breeding season he is then hunting for multiple families, female and nestlings. Hunting constantly for whatever is on the menu. Fatigue, stress and accidents cull the adult males. Observation shows that by the time harriers are mature, their second year, the females out-number males. Some of the males have become lifestyle victims.

The whole breeding season, from female brooding eggs, to the young hunting on their own can be 120-135 days. Constant stress for the hunting male, no time off. No way to ignore bad weather, or any drop off in food due to fire, drought, disease or cattle.

Harriers are found across North America wherever they find the right habitat. In our area cattails or unfenced fields that aren’t plowed are likely to welcome a harrier.

For information about upcoming Salem Audubon programs and activities, see www.salemaudubon.org, or Salem Audubon’s Facebook page.

Harry Fuller is an Oregon birder and natural history author of “Freeway Birding” and the newly-published “Birding Harney County.” He is a member of the Salem Audubon Society. Contact him at [email protected] or atowhee.blog. His “Some Fascinating Things About Birds” column appears regularly in Salem Reporter.

A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE.