That sounds like a winter roost situation but I have never seen that many
harriers in one place. Must have been a very strange sight.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
On Jan 5, 2016, at 8:21 AM, Cathy Nowak <cathy.nowak@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Birders:
Yesterday, as I left work for home at a little after 4:00 PM, driving along
Hot Lake Lane (a road that forms the boundary of Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area) I
saw a large group of hawks with one bird of greater size than the others. I
stopped to investigate what looked like a mobbing. What I saw was about 15
Northern Harriers flying with a Red-tailed Hawk but they weren’t really
mobbing it. Now and then one would fly at it halfheartedly but this didn’t
look like serious attempt to chase the red-tail. As I watched I saw more
birds joining the “flock.” More and more Harriers appeared out of a slate
grey sky in fading light. I started to leave once but saw another bunch
coming so I stopped and watched again. They did not form a tight bunch but
were loosely associated over about a 20 acre area. My final count was 50+
Northern Harriers, 1 Red-tailed Hawk and 1 Rough-legged hawk.
I am at a loss to explain this. We “always” have harriers on the wildlife
area over winter but generally not in high numbers. That depends on the
weather – I suspect as the weather worsens and hunting is harder more move on
to easier pickings as evidenced by fewer observations. We do not have
particularly nasty weather that would have driven them in nor were they
clustered around a prey source. I have seen (presumed) family groups of
harriers flying together in late summer and I have seen groups in the spring
as males court females. I have never seen numbers like this.
M. Cathy Nowak
Certified Wildlife Biologist®
Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area
59116 Pierce Rd
La Grande, OR 97850
541-963-4954
