Circus pygargus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus) is a species of harrier, a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It breeds in large open areas in the Palearctic and is migratory, wintering in Africa, the Indian subcontinent and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu.
The first formal description of Montagu's harrier was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758, in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae, under the binomial name Falco pygargus. The genus Circus was introduced by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek. Circus is from kirkos, meaning "circle", referring to a bird of prey named for its circling flight (probably the hen harrier), and pygargus is Modern Latin derived from the Greek pugargos, from puge, meaning "rump", and argos, meaning "shining white". The species name was formerly used for the hen harrier before Montagu's was identified as a different species.
Sexual dimorphism is particularly apparent in the plumage of this species. Adult males are characterized by their overall pale grey plumage...
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyiv Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 2 | Centro de Recuperación de Rapaces Brinzal | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Montagu's Harrier sighting in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, based on 20 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 124th most-seen of the 173 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Montagu's Harrier in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, against about 10% in April and November–December, the lowest months. Those are among Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary's driest months, with almost no rain against 55 mm in August. May to October have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Montagu's 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.
Among the best
Of the 31 parks where we can rate Montagu's Harrier sightings, Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary ranks 3rd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 20%) and Fertő-Hanság National Park (Hungary, about 20%).
Same genus: Circus
The closest relatives of the Montagu's Harrier that you can see in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (genus Circus, Harriers) are Western Marsh-Harrier (about 70%) and Pale Harrier (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Montagu's Harrier is recorded against all the birds logged in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (20 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.
