
Habitat
Occupies a variety of open habitats, typically with herbaceous cover and occasionally intermixed with woody species. Predominantly breeds in moist-open areas such as freshwater, saltwater and brackish marshes, wet meadows, lightly grazed pastures, abandoned fields, bogs, moorlands, tundra, and alpine meadows (Serrentino 1992, Macwhirter and Bildstein 1996).
References
MacWhirter, R. B., and K. L. Bildstein. 1996. Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus. In The Birds of North America, No. 210 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Serrentino, P. 1992. Northern Harrier, Circus cyaneus. Pages 89-117 in: K. J. Schneider and D. M. Pence, editors. Migratory nongame birds of management concern in the Northeast. USFWS, Newton Corner, MA. 400 pp.