This species is found in marshes, reedbeds and farmland, but also in coastal creeks, mudflats, sewage dumps and mangrove swamps (Richardson 1990, Aspinall and Porter 2011). It is a generalist predator taking a variety of prey types, with small birds generally preferred (del Hoyo et al. 1994). The species is migratory. Birds occurring in the UAE breed in Eurasia. Migration is generally on a broad front, although there is some concentration at a few sites (Brown et al. 1982). Hundreds of individuals occasionally gather at roosting sites, sometimes with other harriers such as Montagu's Harrier Circus pygargus, but otherwise they are usually solitary, associating only temporarily at especially rich feeding sites (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Snow and Perrins 1998, Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001). The species has a slightly greater tendency to be gregarious while on migration. Birds fly c. 10-30 m above the ground (Brown et al. 1982).