Description:

Small and lightly built, with pointed wing-tip, and longer legs and more upright stance. Male has pale grey upperparts, dark wedge on primaries, very pale grey head and underbody, and lacks black secondary bars. Female has distinctive underwing pattern: pale primaries, irregularly barred and lacking dark trailing edge.

Distribution:

Rare passage migrant through all across Gilgit-Baltistan, mainly through the western parts. Prefers open country in plains and foothills; semi-desert, grassy slopes, cultivation, scrub-covered plains and marshes. From lowlands up to 3000m.

Behavior:

Flies low above ground, into wind, dropping on to small prey spotted on ground; spends large part of day in hunting. Captures insects fleeing from grass fires. Small mammals and birds are main prey; especially in winter quarters, large insects. Takes advantage of demographic explosions of rodents. Insects, reptiles and frogs taken less often.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Pallid Harrier in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Pallid Harrier

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.