Pied Harrier    Circus melanoleucos

Etymology:

• Circus: Greek word kirkos –partly mythical hawk, named for its circling flight (kirkos –circle).

• Melanoleucos : Greek word melas  –black; leukos –    { Black and white} .

Vernacular names: : Hindi: Pahatai, Chitkbara Girgitmar, Nepal: Ablak petaha, Mar: Kavda Harin/ Bhovtya

Distribution in India: Breeds in Assam, Winter visitor in Western Ghats, South & North East India.

Description: Size of 43–50 cm; weight of male 254–325 g, weight of female 390–455 g; wingspan of 110–125 cm. The male is strikingly patterned, with jet black on head, neck, breast, back and primaries and bright white on forewing, rump and rest of underparts. The female larger than male generally whiter below and extensively grey on upperwing and uppertail. Irides are bright yellow in adult male, brownish in adult female, becoming yellowish with age; cere yellow to greenish-yellow; bill is black; feet and legs are orange-yellow in adult male, paler yellow in female. The juvenile is dark brown above, rich cinnamon below with streaks on head and breast, no grey in wings.

Habitat: It is found in open ground, including grasslands, steppe, edge of wet meadows, marshes with reeds and rushes, river valleys, swamps and bogs; tolerates certain degree of bush cover. In S Asia often in flooded and unflooded paddy fields. Ranges from sea-level to 2100 m in breeding season but generally nests below 1500 m.

Food habits: It eats small mammals, voles, mice and shrews; small terrestrial birds and their nestlings, larks, pipits, frogs, lizards, snakes and insects, .It rarely eats fish and carrion.

Breeding habits: They breed in Apr-May. They nest on ground, in long grass, reedbeds, rushes or sometimes in bushes. The nest is thin structure, built of grass and other available plant matter. They lay as clutch of 4–5 eggs, at interval of 2 days. The incubation period is 29–32 days, starting with first egg, done by female. They have asynchronous hatching, leading to notable size differences among chicks. The fledging period is t 32–45 days.