Western marsh harrier

Western marsh harrier
Male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Circus
Species:
C. aeruginosus
Binomial name
Circus aeruginosus
Subspecies
  • C. a. aeruginosus - (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • C. a. harterti - Zedlitz, 1914
Range of C. aeruginosus
  Breeding
  Resident
  Non-breeding
  Vagrant (seasonality uncertain)
Synonyms

Falco aeruginosus Linnaeus, 1758

The western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus) is a large harrier, a bird of prey from temperate and subtropical western Eurasia and adjacent Africa. It is also known as the Eurasian marsh harrier. Formerly, a number of relatives were included in C. aeruginosus, which was then known as "marsh harrier". The related taxa are now generally considered to be separate species: the eastern marsh harrier (C. spilonotus), the Papuan harrier (C. spilothorax) of eastern Asia and the Wallacea, the swamp harrier (C. approximans) of Australasia and the Madagascar marsh harrier (C. maillardi) of the western Indian Ocean islands.

The western marsh harrier is often divided into two subspecies, the widely migratory C. a. aeruginosus which is found across most of its range, and C. a. harterti which is resident all-year in north-west Africa.

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2019) [amended version of 2016 assessment]. "Circus aeruginosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T22695344A155490248. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22695344A155490248.en. Retrieved 30 July 2023.