Circus pygargus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~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 Wadden Sea National Park on a given day, based on 180 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 173rd most-seen of the 285 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Montagu's Harrier in Wadden Sea National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to April, the lowest months.
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.
15th of 30
Of the 30 parks where we can rate Montagu's Harrier sightings, Wadden Sea National Park ranks 15th 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%).
Same genus: Circus
The closest relatives of the Montagu's Harrier that you can see in Wadden Sea National Park (genus Circus, Harriers) are Western Marsh-Harrier (about 30%) and Hen 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 Wadden Sea National Park (180 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.
