Distribution and migration
↗ The Montagu's harrier is a summer nesting migratory bird.
It spends autumn and winter in sub-Saharan Africa and spring and summer in Europe and Western Asia, with the Iberian Peninsula hosting a large part of its western population. It remains in the Iberian Peninsula, where it nests, between March and September.
It is a Euro-Asian distribution species, extending, although discontinuously, from the Iberian Peninsula and northern Morocco to Central Asia. Worldwide, its largest populations are found in Russia, while the most numerous populations in Western Europe occur in France and Spain.
↗ In Portugal, it occurs mainly in the interior of the mainland.
↗ In Spain, about 40% of the population is found in Castile and León, with significant populations also in Andalusia, Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha.