Common name: Western Marsh-harrier
Scientific name: Circus aeruginosus
Family: Accipitridae

Size:
Body length: 48–56 cm
Wingspan: 115–145 cm
Weight: 400–800 g

Identification:
A large and broad-winged harrier with long wings and a long tail adapted for low soaring flight over wetlands. Adult males show contrasting grey wings with black tips, brown upperparts, and a pale head. Females and juveniles are darker brown overall with a creamy crown and throat. In flight, it glides low with wings held in a shallow “V”.

Habitat:
Marshes, reedbeds, wetlands, lagoons, flooded fields, and coastal marshlands.

Status in the UAE:
Winter visitor and passage migrant. Regularly recorded in wetlands and coastal marshes.

Status in Lebanon:
Passage migrant and winter visitor in suitable wetland habitats.

Diet:
Carnivorous — feeds on birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and carrion.

Behavior:
Typically hunts by flying low above reeds and wetland vegetation searching for prey. Powerful but graceful flier. Often roosts in reedbeds. Solitary outside breeding season, though multiple individuals may gather in rich feeding areas during migration and winter.

Conservation status:
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)