Spotted Harrier

Circus assimilis
Accipitridae

Although it may be recorded almost anywhere in mainland Australia, the stronghold of the Spotted Harrier is the arid and semi-arid zones. By gliding and soaring, harriers slowly quarter above flat or undulating landscapes covered with low or open vegetation, on the lookout for small birds and mammals on the ground, and then dive or drop onto their quarry. Once, however, a Spotted Harrier was seen chasing after a quail, with both birds running through a crop of lucerne, and they very occasionally also hunt locusts on the ground.

Description

The Spotted Harrier is a large, slim-bodied raptor (bird of prey) with a striking white-spotted chestnut breast and mainly blue-grey upper parts. It has an owl-like chestnut coloured facial disc with a narrow light grey ruff around it and yellow eyes. It has long slender yellow legs and a long tail, with a wedge-shaped tip. Its long, broad wings have dark, well rounded, 'fingered' tips. The female Spotted Harrier is larger than the male. The Spotted Harrier glides slowly, with up-swept wings. It is also called the Allied or Jardine's Harrier or the Spotted Swamp-hawk.

Similar Species

The similar Swamp Harrier, C. approximans, has striped rather than dark wing tips and a more finely barred tail. The Swamp Harrier's white rump is also distinctive.

Distribution

The Spotted Harrier is found in mainland Australia and Indonesia. It is widespread but sparsely distributed.

Habitat

The Spotted Harrier is found in open wooded country in tropical and temperate Australia, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas.

Feeding

The Spotted Harrier hunts by day, quartering (systematically searching) low over the ground, gliding with up-swept wings. Its favourite prey are ground birds such as quail and pipits and it will also take mice, rats, rabbits and lizards. It rarely eats carrion.

Breeding

The nest is built in trees in open or remnant woodland and is a large flimsy platform of twigs and sticks, lined with green leaves. The female Spotted Harrier incubates the eggs, broods and guards the young. The male hunts and brings food to the female.

The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates

This Wherigo converts your player into a virtual version of the "Reverse Cache Box" which tells you the bearing to the cache, but not the distance. You may begin your search from any spot in the world using your Smartphone or Whereigo compatible GPS to navigate to the cache.
**As the cartridge produces whole number degrees, the triangulation is not accurate from long distances especially if the 2 readings are taken close together producing an acute angle at intersection, so don't be disheartened by a GZ that seems wrong, go near there and take more readings.**

The cartridge was created by day1976 and is available to download from the wherigo website. day1976's Open Source Reverse Wherigo  .

Start up the player, find and load the cartridge. > NewGame > Find a Geocache > Answer > Enter First Code > xxxxx > Answer > Enter Second Code > xxxxx > Answer > The bearing to this Geocache is xxx degrees. This bearing is from where you are standing. It is now up to you how many times you relocate and obtain different bearings so as to triangulate the cache. The ultimate goal would be to find the cache with just one bearing reading, but for most, it would need a minimum of two bearings. Bearings are with respect to True North, so If using an OS map, allowances will have to be made, as Grid North, Magnetic North, and True North are all different!

To begin, you will have to type these two codes into your player when prompted:

jm38a

bicca

It is suggested that you take the code with you on your journey. It will be needed if it becomes necessary to restart your player for any reason.

Have Fun!

How to download the Whereigo Cartridge

You may begin your search from any spot in the world using a Whereigo compatible GPS unit or phone app.

Link to day1976's Open Source Reverse Wherigo cartridge.

Log into wherigo.com using your geocaching.com player name and password. The cartridge type used on phone apps is the Pocket PC Device.