Backyard Circus

 

Audubon Image

Meet Circus cyaneus - the northern harrier - colloquially known as a marsh hawk. A predictable resident as we've been host to a nesting pair for any number of years already.

 

The genus name Circus comes from the Greek kirkos - meaning 'circle' a reference to its circling flight. Cyaneus is Latin - meaning dark-blue. 

 

This is an easy bird of prey to identify.  Northern harriers have several characteristics that set them apart from other hawks.  The feathers around their face have an owl-like disk focusing sound into their ears. Their wings form a v-shape as they fly low and slow and parallel to the ground during flight. Males have a white belly while females have a streaked brown belly.  They also have a distinctive white rump and black wing tips which are visible during flight. 

 

This raptor both nests and feeds on the ground and provides hours of bird watching as they hunt over the tall grass prairie north of the house.

 

I captured this video Sunday afternoon.  It was the second time I witnessed this behavior this week and fortunately had the presence of mind to have my device handy to record it.  A turkey has cutting thru the field out back and both birds were ganging-up on it to harass it and drive it off.  If I had to hazard a guess this is a display of territorial behavior.  It is not at all different from tree swallows dive-bombing me and the dog during nesting season.  Although I'm not going traipse thru there and test the hypothesis with the hawks.

 

Be sure to turn-up the volume....