Montagu's harrier

Montagu's harrier is a migratory carnivore with an aerial lifestyle that lives in grassland, and its geographic range covers 6,837,000 km².

Weight

261 g – 376 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Wingspan

1.09 msrc for Wingspan

Lifespan

16.2 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Carnivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

16.3 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

grasslandsrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

29.3 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

3.9 – 4.25src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

2 years – 2.24 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

1src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Aerialsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Migratorysrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The montagu's harrier is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderAccipitriformes
5. familyAccipitridae
6. genusCircus
7. SpeciesCircus pygargus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Circus ater, Circus cineraceus, Circus cinerarius, Circus cinerascens, Circus gallinarius, Circus montagui, Falco cineraceus, Falco pygargus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Hen harrier

Circus cyaneus

Accipitridae

LC, Least Concern

Western marsh harrier

Circus aeruginosus

Accipitridae

NT, Near Threatened

Pallid harrier

Circus macrourus

Accipitridae

LC, Least Concern

Pied harrier

Circus melanoleucos

Accipitridae

LC, Least Concern

Swamp harrier

Circus approximans

Accipitridae

LC, Least Concern

Eastern marsh harrier

Circus spilonotus

Accipitridae

CompareMontagu's harrier vs Hen harrierMontagu's harrier vs Western marsh harrierMontagu's harrier vs Pallid harrierMontagu's harrier vs Pied harrier

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
  Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{montagus_harrier_2026,
  title = {Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/montagus-harrier},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}