This is a “Gray Ghost” Northern Harrier, an adult male soaring through the sky and hunting over grasslands. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History has been assisting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a second season of wintering raptor surveys in Chautauqua County in 2014-2015. The primary focus of these surveys is to determine where Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus), ‘endangered’ in New York, and Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus), ‘threatened’ in New York, are spending the winter season to roost and feed. As we are now into spring please enter any Northern Harrier or Short-eared Owl sightings you have had in Chautauqua County this winter into eBird with as many details as possible, or email skruitbosch@rtpi.org with your data and information – thank you!
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
