Circus aeruginosus
Silhouette: Mathieu Pélissié · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
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 was scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Falco aeruginosus. Linnaeus specified the locality as Europe but restricted this to Sweden in 1761. The western marsh harrier is now placed in the genus Circus that was introduced by Bernard Germain de Lacépède... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Rabat | 🇲🇦 Morocco | |
| 3 | Luxor | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 4 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 5 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Tunis | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | |
| 8 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 9 | Surat | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Parc du Belvédère | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | |
| 3 | Tiergarten Halberstadt | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Hortobágyi Madárpark | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Дендропарк ім. Бенедикта Дибовського | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 6 | akwarium warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 7 | hipopotamiarnia i akwarium morskie warszawskiego ZOO | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Western Marsh-Harrier sighting in Rabat on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 29th most-seen of the 100 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October to January
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Western Marsh-Harrier in Rabat on a given day, against about 10% in May to August, the lowest months. Those are among Rabat's wettest months, with about 70 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Western Marsh-Harrier sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 82
Of the 82 cities where we can rate Western Marsh-Harrier sightings, Rabat ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Vasai-Virar (India, about 50%).
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Western Marsh-Harrier that you can see in Rabat (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Long-legged Buzzard (about 10%), Eurasian Sparrowhawk (about 10%) and Black Kite (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Western Marsh-Harrier is recorded against all the birds logged in Rabat (39 verified sightings), 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.
