Circus buffoni
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The long-winged harrier (Circus buffoni) is a common bird of prey species endemic to South America. They are members of the family Accipitridae, under the genus Circus which encompasses other harrier species. Its range encompasses most of South America, in grassland and wetland all across the continent. The long-winged harrier is a carnivorous bird, and will feed on many different animals found in its habitat.
Like owls and other harrier species, the long-winged harrier has a distinctive facial disc, which is used to triangulate the bird's hearing while it is hunting. The long-winged harrier is classified as a species of least concern by the IUCN Red List, however their population has been observed to decline due to habitat degradation by human activity.
The long-winged harrier was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the falcons, eagles and their relatives in the genus Falco and coined the binomial name Falco buffoni. Gmelin based his description on the "Cayenne ringtail" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Caroni Swamp | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 3 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 3 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 7 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Long-winged Harrier sighting in Caroni Swamp on a given day, based on 152 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 40th most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Long-winged Harrier in Caroni Swamp on a given day, against about 20% in January–July and October, the lowest months. That is one of Caroni Swamp's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain against 25 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-winged Harrier sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Long-winged Harrier sightings, Caroni Swamp ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 40%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Long-winged Harrier that you can see in Caroni Swamp (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Common Black-Hawk (about 20%), Short-tailed Hawk (about 10%) and Gray-lined Hawk (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Long-winged Harrier is recorded against all the birds logged in Caroni Swamp (152 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
