Asio flammeus (Short-eared Owl)

The Northern Harrier is a slender, low-flying raptor that hunts over open grasslands and wetlands across North America. Males are gray and females are brown, but both sexes hunt with a distinctive buoyant flight, quartering low over vegetation to surprise prey. In winter, harriers concentrate in areas with open water and accessible prey, making agricultural valleys and wildlife refuges like Skagit-Snoqualmie critical habitat. This landscape in western Washington's Puget lowland forests represents the northern edge of their year-round range, where morning fog and frost characterize the season.