Northern Harrier

This photo of a female Northern Harrier was taken Sunday north of Fairfield. The Harrier, a medium sized hawk, is a year-round resident of Iowa. Smaller than a Red-Tailed Hawk with a longer tail and long wings they forage by flying somewhat slowly low to the ground on open grasslands and marshes looking for small mammals, birds and frogs. Note the facial disk on the female giving her the appearance of an owl. This disk is formed of stiff feathers, which transmit sound, making the Harrier the only hawk to use hearing as well as sight when searching for prey. The Harrier is one of the few raptors in which the sexes look quite different: the male has a head, back and upper chest in light gray with a white chest and belly, with usually some rusty markings and black wingtips. In addition to the white band around her facial disk, the female has a dirty white and tan streaked belly, upper wings of brown with the lower side barred white and dark brown. Her tail is brown with dark bars whereas the male has a tail that is dark gray above and white below. More information about the Northern Harrier can be found at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_harrier/id/ac.