Eastern Marsh Harrier
Circus spilonotus
A common patroller above reedbeds, flying with wings raised in a shallow V-shape. Adult males are predominantly pale gray with a dark-speckled head, blackish back with pale-edged feathers, and black wingtips. Adult females are brown and streaky and lack the bold white rump patch of the similar female Hen Harrier. Juveniles are brown with paler heads and breasts. Extremely similar to Western Marsh-Harrier, but range overlap is minimal.
Identification
It is 48 to 58 cm long with a wingspan of 113 to 137 cm; like most birds of prey, the female is usually larger than the male. The male's plumage is variable; typically the head, breast, back and wing-coverts are blackish with pale streaks. The rest of the wing is grey with black wingtips and a white front edge. The tail is grey, the rump is white and the underparts are mostly white. The female is dark brown with buff streaking on the head and underparts. The rump is often whitish and the tail has dark bars. Young birds are dark brown with buff on the head and a pale patch on the underwing.<p>It is usually silent but has a mewing call which is most often uttered at roost sites.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Circus spilonotus
- Authority
- Kaup, 1847
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Circus
Range and habitat
Eastern marsh harriers are generally migratory apart from the Papuan harrier which is sedentary. The breeding range covers north-east China, Mongolia and south-east Siberia (as far west as Lake Baikal) with small numbers in northern Japan (Hokkaidō and northern Honshū). There is some overlap with western marsh harrier around Lake Baikal and interbreeding has taken place.<p>The wintering range includes southern China, Taiwan, Korea, southern Japan, northeast India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia as far south as the Philippines, Borneo and Sumatra. Large numbers of birds migrate along the Chinese coast with thousands passing through sites like Beidaihe during the autumn.<p>Its preferred habitat is open country including marshland, paddy fields and grassland.
- Breeding range
- PAL : c Siberia to ne China and Japan
- Non-breeding range
- e OR : se Asia, s China through Philippines, Borneo and Sumatra
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Vireo crassirostris
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Long-crested Myna
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Dull brown with a pale throat, rufous-tipped wings, and a long tail. Somewhat resembles a more upright, shorter-billed bush warbler. Duller and less contrastingly-marked than most other babblers in its range. Forages in tangled, scrubby areas at middle and high altitudes, where it can often be difficult to see.
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