One bird that I can never get enough of is Montagu’s
Harriers. This is not only a scarce species in the Netherlands, but also a
very beautiful and elegant one. It is hard to stop watching them, when
they are on the wing.
Montagu’s
Harrier is nowadays mainly restricted to arable land in
Groningen and to a lesser extent Flevoland. Numbers and breeding
success fluctuate markedly, with for example 36 breeding pairs and 39
fledglings in 2013; 52 pairs and 142 fledglings in 2019; 80 pairs
and 100 fledglings in 2020; and 58 pairs and 44 fledglings in 2021.
Common Voles are an important prey. This species was abundant in for
example 2019, but their numbers were low in 2021 (source:
GKA).
Below are some photos that I took on 8 August 2021, when I found two
pairs of Montagu’s Harriers, both with at least one juvenile,
plus a single adult male in north-eastern Groningen.
|
