Northern Harrier locations in Ar

Northern Harrier locations in Arizona

Circus cyaneus

Northern Harriers are some of the most impressive aerial acrobats we have witnessed. Their agility and ability is quite impressive, and, on top of that, the males have quite a striking feathering.

Harriers only visit us in the winter, but there are some very regular places to find them. Traveling the roads west of Marana, around the cotton farm, you will almost always find harriers patiently working the fields in a grid fashion. It's often even easy to predict their course over a long time, following chains of fields next to each other. They focus on fields that are growing; we rarely see them flying over barren ground. Remember to scan the ground- Harriers often perch on dirt. Otherwise, scan for kiting or rhythmically beating, deep-dihedral birds near the horizon [they normally fly very low]. If you know where the Audubon Society's reclamation project is near Marana on the Santa Cruz river, there is a pair of Harriers we see together there every time we go [walk the path across the road, along the river].

Another reliable Harrier location is anywhere in Sulfur Springs Valley in the winter, but particularly Whitewater Draw. There is a Harrier somewhere in plain sight all day long there.