Western Marsh Harrier

The Eurasian Marsh Harrier or the Western Marsh Harrier gets its name from the marshes and wetlands it inhabits. It is a bird predominantly seen hawking over wetlands and marshes in the characteristic harrier flight, with the wings held open forming a wide v-shape.

Breeding and migration

Eurasian or the western Marsh Harrier breeds in Europe and central Asia and some populations migrate to southern and western Europe, others move further south to Sahel, Nile basin and Great Lakes region in Africa, Arabia, the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar. They are the earliest bird to arrive in the Indian Subcontinent and come by July in western India. Many instances of breeding have been suspected or unsuccessfully attempted within the northern reaches of the Indian subcontinent. They show site fidelity as a ringed Harrier was repeatedly seen returning to wintering site in Bharatpur for a period over five years (Verma 2003).They are also known to do ‘leap-frog migration’ where birds from northern latitudes winter further south than those from southern latitudes (Panuccio 2013).

Habitat

Found around marshes, wetlands, streams and paddy fields throughout winter and therefore not hard to see this bird in the vicinity of water.

Diet

They can take fish and waterbirds, which have been part of their main diet in wintering areas around Bharatpur. Insects, frogs, rodents are taken and is occasionally known to scavenge on carrion (VermaA. 2002) .