HEN HARRIER
When we decided to go to Kefalonia for a short holiday, I checked the internet for the local wildlife. On a birding blog, someone mentioned seeing hen harriers at Livadi marshes and so I persuaded Simone that it would be an interesting day out. As we pulled up to park along the roadside, a female hen harrier flew straight over the car. What a beautiful bird! It has long wings and tail with the female being mostly brown with dark bands on the tail and the male, a glorious slate grey above with broad black wing tips and grey tail and whitish underparts and a blue-grey head. To tell them apart from marsh harriers you can check the base of the tail which is white on a hen harrier.
From a distance you can tell a harrier by the flight pattern, flap, flap, glide, flap, flap, glide. When gliding, the wings are held in a “v” shape. They tend to like coastal marshes, like Livadi and rough grassland. They feed on small birds and rodents and so tend to fly close to the ground, rather than high up like a buzzard. Unfortunately, they only winter here, traveling North for the Summer. I feel I need to apologise for the quality of these photos, I will try to get closer and get better shots when I am allowed back to the marshes.
