Harrier, Pallid

Conservation status:

Common Winter Visitor and Passage Migrant

Description:

Flight and proportions almost identical to Montagu’s. Male pale grey above without clear-cut white rump; whitish head and undersurface with black wedge on wing-tip. Female separated from similar Montagu’s by pale, dark-streaked collar (like female Hen Harrier; virtually absent in Montagu’s), less spacing between dark bands on secondaries below, with pale bands becoming darker towards body and absence of dark band on secondaries above. Primaries below often pale, contrasting with darker secondaries and lacking distinct dark trailing edge of hand; heaviest barring confined to central primaries with bases often unbarred, creating pale ‘boomerang’ surrounding darkish coverts; distal primaries with faint or no barring, except for narrow dark ‘finger-tips’ of longest primaries (unlike Montagu’s). Except for pale leading arm, most underwing-coverts and axillaries rather dark-streaked and lacking distinct pattern (not bold rufous-barred as Montagu’s); they merge into dark secondaries (unlike Montagu’s). Streaks of underparts largely confined to upperbreast which contrasts more with paler rear-body than in Montagu’s. Juvenile like Montagu’s but has broad yellow-white collar bordered behind by uniform dark brown neck. Primaries below rather evenly barred from base to tip though often with the pale ‘boomerang’ at primary-bases, ‘fingers’ never all-dark as in most young Montagu’s. Male (9–12 months old) has paler head and breast than Montagu’s and lacks contrast with pale belly; new central tail-feathers show diffuse dark bands near tip (similar Montagu’s has grey neck and breast, contrasting with paler belly and new central tail-feathers plain grey).