 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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-2.82 (-3.6 - -2.07)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Northern Harriers were observed flying low over open landscapes across the province in 1,009 atlas squares. Widespread south of the boreal forest, the probability of observing Northern Harriers was highest in the southwest, becoming patchy in the Aspen Parkland and Boreal Transition. In the northern forests they were an uncommon occurrence, except on the meandering Gwillim River and Mudjatik River south of Cree Lake where they favoured the open floodplains and oxbows. Breeding was generally difficult to confirm for this ground-nester with a penchant for tall vegetation as cover, resulting in only 24 squares reporting confirmations.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
A grey phantom appears, effortlessly skimming over the landscape only metres above the terrain. Snow lies in many places; the slate-grey male is an early harbinger of spring while the larger brown female will arrive later, toward the end of March. Males, and sometimes females, perform spectacular "sky dance? mating displays in which they swoop upwards, then dive and tumble earthward, while uttering a high-pitched kee kee kee. The Harrier breeds from Alaska to Newfoundland, south to Baja California and Virginia, and winters from southern Canada to Panama and the Caribbean.
Godfey's (1986) statement that it "hunts over broader fields, meadows, marshes and similar open country? applies well to Saskatchewan. Nests may be found either in dry upland sites, especially patches of snowberry or other low shrubs, or less commonly in marshes, sometimes on a platform over water.
The Northern Harrier is a common resident throughout the agricultural portion of the province. Farther north it is uncommon and local, being restricted to recent burns, dry bogs, and other open areas north to Lake Athabasca and Hasbala Lake (Smith 1996). As a ground nester, harriers are especially vulnerable to the mowing and burning of pasturelands and plowing of stubble fields (Wiebe in Leighton et al. 2002). In 1975 it was the most common raptor in the Rosetown-Biggar area, particularly in prairie that was covered largely by snowberry , rose, and wolf-willow (Renaud and Renaud 1975), but since then "populations have declined significantly? (Wapple and Renaud 2008).
Original text by P. Lawrence Beckie. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Northern Harrier in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Northern Harrier in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=NOHA&lang=en [09 Nov 2025]
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