Hen harrier: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the hen harrier lives – recorded in 64 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Circus cyaneus
Group	Birds of prey
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	64 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America
Mass	346 g (male organism, adult weight); 527 g (female organism, adult weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Accipitriformes
Family	Accipitridae

Where does the hen harrier live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the hen harrier in 64 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Wikidata gives its range as: Nanling Mountains, People's Republic of China, Africa.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a hen harrier?

Wikidata records the following for the hen harrier: mass 346 g (male organism, adult weight); 527 g (female organism, adult weight).

Is the hen harrier endangered?

The hen harrier’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the hen harrier?

The hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) is a bird in the order Accipitriformes and the family Accipitridae, genus Circus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the hen harrier

The hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) is a bird of prey. It breeds in open areas such as marshes and grasslands in Eurasia and is migratory, moving further south outside of the breeding season. Birds in milder regions, such as France and Great Britain, may be resident year-round, but the higher altitudes are largely deserted in winter. The species is sexually dimorphic; males are smaller and mostly grey and white with black wingtips, whereas females average larger and are predominantly brown and have buff underparts with brown barring. Both sexes have a white rump patch, although it is more noticeable on females and juveniles.

The term "hen harrier" refers to its former habit of preying on free-ranging fowl. The northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the hen harrier.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Hen harrier (revision 1332528608), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q25572 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).