ClipArt ETC
Hawks have strong talons, curved bills and keen eyesight.

Harrier

Hawks have strong talons, curved bills and keen eyesight.

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…

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…

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…

"Circinae. Harriers. Face surrounded with an incomplete ruff (as in most owls); orifice of ear about as large as the eye, and in some cases at least with a decided conch (in this picture). Bill rather weak, not toothed or notched. Bill thickly beset with many curved radiating bristles surpassing in length the cere, which is large and tumid; tomia lobed or festooned, but neither toothed nor notched. Nostrils ovate-oblong, nearly horizontal. Superciliary shield prominent. Tarsus long and slender, scutellate before and mostly so behind, reticulate laterally; toes slender, the middle with its claw much shorter than the tarsus; a basal web between the outer and middle; all tuberculate underneath; Claws very large and sharp, much curved. Wings very long and ample; 3d and 4th quills longest; 1st shorter than 6th; outer 3-5 (in our species 4) emarginate on inner webs; 2d-5th emarginate on outer webs. Tail very long, about 2/3rds as long as the wing, nearly even or rounded, the folded wings falling short of its end. " Elliot, Coues, 1884

Harrier Ear Parts

"Circinae. Harriers. Face surrounded with an incomplete ruff (as in most owls); orifice of ear about…