NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Northern Harrier
Circus hudsonius (Linnaeus, 1766)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Male northern harrier (Circus hudsonius) in Berkeley, California, United States
Becky Matsubara from El Sobrante, California · CC BY 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The northern harrier (Circus hudsonius), also known as the marsh hawk or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost United States.
The northern harrier migrates south in winter, with breeding birds in Canada and northern Great Plains of the U.S. moving to the American south, Mexico, and Central America. In the midwestern, mountain west, and north Atlantic states of the U.S., they may be present all year. This bird inhabits prairies, open areas, and marshes.
Wikipedia contributors, Northern harrier; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:29:51.105901+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Circus hudsonius (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Common name
- Northern Harrier
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Circus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderAccipitriformes
- familyAccipitridae Vigors, 1824
- genusCircus Lacépède, 1799
- speciesCircus hudsonius (Linnaeus, 1766)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Circus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Western Marsh HarrierCircus aeruginosus (Linnaeus, 1758) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Swamp HarrierCircus approximans Peale, 1849 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Long-winged HarrierCircus buffoni (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinereous HarrierCircus cinereus Vieillot, 1816 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pallid HarrierCircus macrourus (S. G. Gmelin, 1770) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Malagasy Marsh HarrierCircus maillardi J. Verreaux, 1862 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pied HarrierCircus melanoleucos (Pennant, 1769) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Montagu's HarrierCircus pygargus (Linnaeus, 1758) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African Marsh HarrierCircus ranivorus (Daudin, 1800) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Papuan HarrierCircus spilothorax Salvadori & D'Albertis, 1875 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Circus cyaneus hudsonius (Linnaeus, 1766) (Linnaeus, 1766) | synonym |
| Falco hudsonius Linnaeus, 1766 Linnaeus, 1766 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1253654 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:CTVJX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.