Western marsh harrier: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the western marsh harrier lives – recorded in 88 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Circus aeruginosus
Group	Birds of prey
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	88 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe
Mass	40 g (birth weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Accipitriformes
Family	Accipitridae

Where does the western marsh harrier live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the western marsh harrier in 88 countries and territories across Africa, Asia and Europe. Wikidata gives its range as: 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 western marsh harrier?

Wikidata records the following for the western marsh harrier: mass 40 g (birth weight).

Is the western marsh harrier endangered?

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

What kind of animal is the western marsh harrier?

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

About 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.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Western marsh harrier (revision 1369217069), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q26431 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).