Following on from Nick’s post yesterday about our Radipole Harriers, I thought I’d introduce the two birds. There’s occasionally confusion in the hide regarding who’s who as both birds are essentially brown with pale heads. But there are one or two things that separate them which I’ll try to point out using some slightly dodgy photo’s taken over the past month or so.
First up is our male. In all birds of prey, males are smaller than females. This is because females spend a lot their time during the breeding season on the nest so being larger would enable her to be more effective if she ever had to fight of other predators. If both birds are together then this size difference is noticeable but sadly for us they are often seen on their own. The best thing to look out for on the male is his distinctive breast band and pale tale feathers. As male Marsh Harriers get older they turn a very striking grey and brown. This bird is in his 3rd Calendar year which means he would have been hatched in 2009, so he’s currently just starting to acquire this grey colour but only in small amounts. He’s also got a pale eye which you can see if you’re lucky enough to see him fly right past the hide which he does on occasions.
The female completely lacks the breast band but does have small pale patches on her shoulders which the male also has. Her tail is more uniform brown which best describes the rest of her plumage. The male has very dark, almost black wing feather whereas our lady harrier is very brown. She has a dark eye.
If you’ve got any questions just call in to the visitor centre to ask and if you’ve got a camera just take a few snaps of the harriers and we’ll try our best to help identify them for you, regardless of how rubbish the picture may be!