Dark Northern Harrier Update

I wanted to quickly update everyone on the reaction we’ve been receiving from experts regarding the dark Northern Harrier Rob Miller, Liz Urban, and I saw last month in Idaho. Rob received an e-mail from Bill Clark, potentially the most experienced raptor identification expert in North America, and author of A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors. Bill says, “About your harrier. It is most certainly an adult male Nothern Harrier and most certainly melanistic.” This is excellent news! While we knew it was a dark harrier, it is always great to get confirmation from an expert in the field. Bill went on to suggest we publish our account, along with some photos of the bird in a short field note, similar to this article published by Chad Olson in 2000. We have not seen this bird again since our first siting, however I will be conducting road surveys next week along the same route where we saw this bird in January. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Neil Paprocki