Circus pygargus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyiv Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 2 | Centro de Recuperación de Rapaces Brinzal | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Montagu's Harrier sighting in Doñana National Park on a given day, based on 72 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 185th most-seen of the 234 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Montagu's Harrier in Doñana National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months. That is one of Doñana National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 90 mm in October.
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.
20th of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Montagu's Harrier sightings, Doñana National Park ranks 20th at under 5%. The best odds are in Biebrza National Park (Poland, about 20%), Fertő-Hanság National Park (Hungary, about 20%) and Kiskunság National Park (Hungary, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Montagu's Harrier is recorded against all the birds logged in Doñana National Park (72 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.
