A harrier that breeds from eastern Europe to Central Asia. Males are pale gray, while females and juveniles are browner; it lives in open country.
Males have pale gray upperparts and black wedges at the wingtips. Females have barred underwings, while juveniles are rufous.
During spring 1989, observers recorded the passage of three harrier species for 291 hours at a site in southeastern Italy. They counted 72 Pallid Harriers; three, or 4.17%, were adult males. All three males passed in March, before females and young. The observations took place from March 10–20, April 6–16 and May 7–19.
Females made up 63% of Pallid Harriers recorded in April and 37% in May; 96% of the juveniles were recorded in May. The observers also counted 323 Marsh Harriers and 132 Montagu’s Harriers. Seasonal passage differed among the three species: adult male and female Montagu’s Harriers did not differ in passage period, though juveniles passed later than adults.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In the study, Pallid Harriers passed mainly as adult females in April and as first-year birds in May, but their daytime passage pattern did not differ significantly between those months. Adult females also showed no significant difference in passage time between April and May.