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Hawks have strong talons, curved bills and keen eyesight.

Harrier

Hawks have strong talons, curved bills and keen eyesight.

Also known as the American harrier, the marsh hawk (<em>C. Hudsonius</em>) is nineteen to twenty-one inches long. It is of a pale gray color, the underside is white with small reddish spots.

American Marsh Hawk

Also known as the American harrier, the marsh hawk (C. Hudsonius) is nineteen to twenty-one…

Birds of prey usually have stout, hooked beaks and sharp, curved claws, fitting them for clutching and tearing their prey.

Marsh Hawk

Birds of prey usually have stout, hooked beaks and sharp, curved claws, fitting them for clutching and…

A bird of the harriers, having an incomplete facial disk and large ear pars, as in some owls, a week toothless bill, and lengthened wings, tail and legs.

Marsh Hawk

A bird of the harriers, having an incomplete facial disk and large ear pars, as in some owls, a week…

"Circus cyaneus hudsonius. American Marsh Hawk, Harrier. Blue hawk. Adult Male: In perfect plumage pale pearly-bluish, or bluish-ash, above, with the upper tail-coverts entirely pure white; but most specimens have a dusky wash obscuring the bluish, and retain traces of brown or rufous. Five outer primaries mostly blackish, all of them and the secondaries with large white basal areas on inner webs; tail-feathers banded with 5 or 6 obscure dusky bars, the terminal one strongest and most distinct, and marbled with white toward their bases. The bluish cast invades the fore under parts, the rest of which are white, with sparse drop-shaped rufous spots; lining of wings white. From this blue-and-white state the bird is found grading by degrees into the very different plumage of the female and young: Above, dark umber-brown, everywhere more or less varied with reddish-brown or yellowish-brown, the upper tail-coverts, however, white, forming a very conspicuous mark; under parts a variable shade of brownish-yellow, or ochraceous, streaked with umber-brown, at least on breast and sides; tail crossed with 6-7 blackish bars." Elliot Coues, 1884

Marsh Hawk

"Circus cyaneus hudsonius. American Marsh Hawk, Harrier. Blue hawk. Adult Male: In perfect plumage pale…