Western marsh harrier
Circus aeruginosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes. It is a small bird by our size classification, with an adult body mass of 704.1 g, ranging from 552.5 g to 741.5 g, and a wingspan of 1.16 m.
Quick facts about the western marsh harrier
It is a carnivore of wetland habitats that forages in the air and is partially migratory. It lays one clutch per year of 4.75 eggs, incubated for 34.5 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
- Weight
- 552.5 g – 741.5 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.16 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 18.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 20.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 34.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.2 – 4.75src 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
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the western marsh harrier?
Photos of the western marsh harrier
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the western marsh harrier live?
Not recorded
What is the western marsh harrier?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Western marsh harrier” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_marsh_harrier&oldid=1369217069), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the western marsh harrier endangered?
The western marsh harrier is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the western marsh harrier classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAccipitriformes
- familyAccipitridae
- genusCircus
- SpeciesCircus aeruginosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Accipiter korschun, Circus aeroginosus, Circus palustris, Circus rufus, Falco aeruginosus
Other names and names in other languages (115)
- EUMHEnglish
- Eurasian marsh harrierEnglish
- Eurasian marsh-harrierEnglish
- Marsh harrierEnglish
- Western marsh-harrierEnglish
- Europese PaddavreterAfrikaans
- Europese Paddavreter (Europese Vleivalk)Afrikaans
- مرزة البطائحArabic
- مرزة المستنقعات الأوراسيةArabic
- مرزة المستنقعات الاوراسيةArabic
- مرزة المستنقعات الغربيةArabic
- Alica de labercaAragonese
- Aguiluchu PrietuAsturian
- milán de les xunqueresAsturian
- Qamışlıq belibağlısıAzerbaijani
- Балотны луньBelarusian
- Тръстиков блатарBulgarian
- পানচিলBangla
- Skoul-korzBreton
- ArpellaCatalan
- arpella comunaCatalan
- Arpellot de marjalCatalan
- ЙӓргӹльӹMari
- Куп кыльыMari
- Шурлӑх хӑлачӗChuvash
- moták pochopCzech
- Boda GwerniWelsh
- Bod y gwerniWelsh
- boda'r gwerniWelsh
- Bodaod y GwerniWelsh
- RørhøgDanish
- RohrweiheGerman
- ΒαλτοσιάχινοGreek
- ΚαλαμόκιρκοςGreek
- marĉa cirkuoEsperanto
- Aguilucho laguneroSpanish
- Aguilucho lagunero occidentalSpanish
- roo-loorkullEstonian
- Arpella vulgarBasque
- سنقر تالابی معمولیPersian
- ruskosuohaukkaFinnish
- blotaheykurFaroese
- Busard harpayeFrench
- Busard des roseauxFrench
- RaidiarnNorthern Frisian
- Cromán monaIrish
- Cromán mónaIrish
- Clamhan loinScottish Gaelic
- Clamhan lòinScottish Gaelic
- Tartaraña das xunqueirasGalician
- Shirragh ny bogleeynManx
- પાન પટ્ટાઇGujarati
- זרון סוףHebrew
- Eja MocvaricaCroatian
- barna rétihéjaHungarian
- Ճահճային մկնաճուռակArmenian
- Մկնաճուռակ ճահճայինArmenian
- Elang rawaIndonesian
- Elang-rawa katakIndonesian
- BrúnheiðirIcelandic
- Falco di paludeItalian
- ヨーロッパチュウヒJapanese
- ჭაობის ძელქორიGeorgian
- Сарkjn
- Саз құладыныKazakh
- 개구리매Korean
- Helghyer gwernCornish
- Brongen HénkeldéifLuxembourgish
- nendrinė lingėLithuanian
- niedru lijaLatvian
- колегукшоMari
- блатна ејаMacedonian
- കരിതപ്പിMalayalam
- Bugħadam AħmarMaltese
- Намгийн цагаан элэгтMongolian
- दलदल ससाणाMarathi
- Burung Lang UbanMalay
- bruine kiekendiefDutch
- sivhaukNorwegian
- błotniak stawowyPolish
- tartaranhão-dos-pauisPortuguese
- Águia-sapeiraPortuguese
- águia-sapeira-ocidentalPortuguese
- Tartaranhão-ruivo-dos-pauisPortuguese
- Melv da channaRomansh
- Erete de stufRomanian
- Болотный луньRussian
- Камышовый луньRussian
- RuškesjeaggehávutNorthern Sami
- ruškesjeaggefálliNorthern Sami
- suotnjofálliNorthern Sami
- kaňa močiarnaSlovak
- rjavi lunjSlovenian
- Shqipja e kenetesAlbanian
- shqipja e kënetaveAlbanian
- Eja močvaricaSerbian
- Еја мочварицаSerbian
- Eja močvarica - Eja мочварикаSerbian
- brun kärrhökSwedish
- brunhökSwedish
- Kipondya wa UlayaSwahili
- சேற்று பூனைப் பருந்துTamil
- เหยี่ยวทุ่งพันธุ์ยูเรเชียThai
- เหยี่ยวทุ่งพันธุ์ยูเรเซียThai
- Saz tuygunuTurkish
- Kızıl TuygunTurkish
- saz delicesiTurkish
- Тулаа кускежизиTuvinian
- Болотяний луньUkrainian
- лунь очеретянийUkrainian
- Falco de valVenetian
- Diều đầu trắngVietnamese
- 白头鹞Chinese
- 西方澤鵟Chinese
- 西方澤鵟〔白頭鷂，西方澤鷂〕Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the western marsh harrier
Other species in the same genus Circus.
Hen harrier
Circus cyaneus
Pallid harrier
Circus macrourus
Montagu's harrier
Circus pygargus
Pied harrier
Circus melanoleucos
Swamp harrier
Circus approximans
Eastern marsh harrier
Circus spilonotus
CompareWestern marsh harrier vs Hen harrierWestern marsh harrier vs Pallid harrierWestern marsh harrier vs Montagu's harrierWestern marsh harrier vs Pied harrier
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the western marsh harrier?
The western marsh harrier is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae and the genus Circus.
How heavy is the western marsh harrier?
The western marsh harrier has an adult body mass of 704.1 g, with reported values from 552.5 g to 741.5 g. Its wingspan is 1.16 m.
What does the western marsh harrier eat?
The western marsh harrier is a carnivore, and it forages in the air.
What habitat does the western marsh harrier live in?
The western marsh harrier lives in wetland habitats.
Is the western marsh harrier endangered?
No. The western marsh harrier is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the western marsh harrier live?
The western marsh harrier has a lifespan of 18.2 years, with values up to 20.1 years reported.
How many eggs does the western marsh harrier lay?
The western marsh harrier lays 4.75 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year, with an incubation period of 34.5 days.
Who named the western marsh harrier?
The western marsh harrier, Circus aeruginosus, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- 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).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-marsh-harrier
“Western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-marsh-harrier.
@misc{western_marsh_harrier_2026,
title = {Western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/western-marsh-harrier},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}