Pied Harrier Circus melanoleucos Scientific name definitions

43–50 cm; male 254–325 g, female 390–455 g; wingspan 110–125 cm (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Male strikingly patterned, with jet black on head  , neck, breast  , back  and primaries  and bright white on forewing  , rump and rest of underparts. Female  4–13% larger than male; plumage similar to that of C. cyaneus, C. macrourus and C. pygargus females, but generally whiter below and extensively grey on upperwing and uppertail. Irides bright yellow in adult male  , brownish in adult female, becoming yellowish with age; cere yellow to greenish-yellow; bill black; feet and legs orange-yellow in adult male, paler yellow in female  (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile  dark brown above, rich cinnamon below with streaks on head and breast, no grey in wings; very similar to juvenile C. macrourus and C. pygargus.

S Siberia (Transbaikalia) and E Mongolia E to Amurland and NE China; has bred in N Myanmar and NE India (Assam). Winters from India and Sri Lanka to S China, Borneo and Philippines.

Open ground, including grasslands, steppe, edge of wet meadows, marshes with reeds and rushes, river valleys, swamps and bogs; tolerates certain degree of bush cover. In S Asia often in flooded and unflooded paddyfields. Ranges from sea-level to 2100 m in breeding season but generally nests below 1500 m (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Presumed migrant recorded at 3800 m in Nepal.

Migratory, except in Assam and Burma, where may well only breed irregularly. Reaches N breeding areas in Apr, males sometimes in first week; leaves for winter quarters mainly in Sept or Oct, although starts to disperse earlier, especially juveniles; winters mainly in India and Burma between Sept/Oct and Apr. Many recorded during southward migration at Beidaihe, NE China, from 1986–1990, with peak numbers in mid Sept; 14,534 counted from late Aug to early Oct 1986, including 2978 on 12 Sept; second-highest count 2033 birds on 12 Sept 1988 (2 Williams, M. D., G. J. Carey, D. G. Duff, and X. Weishu (1992). Autumn bird migration at Beidaihe, China, 1986–1990. Forktail 7:3–55. Close ). Migrants also tallied in N Vietnam in mid Oct (3 Tordoff, A.W. (2002). Raptor migration at Hoang Lien Nature Reserve, northern Vietnam. Forktail. 18: 45–48. Close ) and in South Korea from early Sept to late Oct, with peak numbers c. 20 Sept (4 Moores, N. (2007). Selected records from Socheong Island, South Korea. Forktail. 23: 102–124. Close ). In years when rodents plentiful, some birds may spend winter in S Ussuriland and NE China; sometimes winters in Taiwan. Vagrant or perhaps uncommon but regular non-breeding visitor on Sumatra, Indonesia (5 Iqbal, M. (2005). New and noteworthy bird records from Sumatra, Indonesia. Forktail. 21: 167–169. Close , 6 Iqbal, M. and Giyanto (2010). Possible range expansion of wintering Pied Harriers Circus melanoleucos into the Southern Hemisphere. Australian Field Orn.. 27(1): 33-34. Close ).

Diet not well studied. Small mammals, especially voles, but also mice and shrews; more occasionally small terrestrial birds and their nestlings, e.g. larks, pipits; also frogs, lizards, snakes and insects, e.g. grasshoppers and beetles; rarely eats fish and carrion. Surveys terrain meticulously, using low, buoyant flight typical of genus.

Generally silent outside breeding season. In display, male repeatedly gives “kiiy-veee” (recalling Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus) and female a rapid “kee-kee-kee“. Also a rapid chattering “chak-chak-chak-chak” in alarm or annoyance (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Laying in May in Siberia, probably in Apr in N Burma. Nests on ground, in long grass, reedbeds, rushes or sometimes in bushes; nest is thin structure c. 40–50 cm wide, built of grass and other available plant matter. Lays 4–5 eggs, at interval of 2 days; incubation 29–32 days (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), starting with first egg, mainly by female. Asynchronous hatching, leading to notable size differences among chicks; fledging at 32–45 days. In Siberia, chicks hunt for themselves from late Aug, when dispersal starts.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Relatively small range, apparently with limited numbers; population size and trends poorly known; total of 14,534 birds counted migrating over Beidaihe (NE China) in autumn 1986; global population could exceed 100,000 breeding pairs according to BirdLife International, but more information needed. Rare or even occasional breeder in Assam and N Burma; locally common in SE Siberia and Russian Far East, although in decline owing to agricultural development.