Decent harrier photos are hard for me to come by this time of year so yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA I was pleasantly surprised when this one flew in fairly close.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
The hawk was hunting the edge of a curved road in front of me so I positioned myself to have a chance at a flight shot or two if it continued to follow the road, which I fully expected it not to do. Harriers during cold and snowy winters at Farmington tend to lose much of their skittishness but any other time of year they reliably veer away before approaching a vehicle or human on foot.
In the intensity of the hunt this one forgot what it was supposed to do.
But wouldn’t you know it, I made a mistake in my choice of active focus points so I had a difficult time locking onto the bird and keeping locked on as it approached and eventually veered off. As a result this was the only shot in the series I liked that was sharp. Several that had more dynamic flight postures were as soft as a marshmallow.
But I’ll take it. It’s a harrier banking in flight in good light with a nice head turn, eye contact and a background and composition that suits my tastes just fine.
Ron
You just gotta love Harriers! I know I love those fancy fliers.
Speaking of fancy fliers, now that Jack is muscling up after being a perch potato all summer (and longer with this move happening), he’s going a lot more recon flights around the field, probably because I stink as a hunting dog. It’s also helping that the winds have been stiff around here for the last two weeks, which is saving us from the heat, but still. It’s just lovely to watch a raptor do its thing. They’re just beautiful, exquisitely and elegantly so.
Beautiful shot Ron! Saw my first “gray ghost” the other day. Kinda swooped on by me real fast, from behind a little hill. I managed a few out of focus and too-distant shots but I was thrilled to see him. So I really do appreciate your skill. Just curious what active focus points did you use and what would you rather have used?
Joanne, With birds in flight I try to use 5 active focus points in the center when the bird has a clean background (sky for example) with no detail or contrasty objects back there to grab my focus away from the bird. This gives me a better chance to keep at least part of the bird in sharp focus.
But when there’s any detail in a background that’s fairly close to the bird I use a single active focus point so my focus is less likely to be distracted by the background.
With this harrier I thought he’d have sky as background when he got close but then at the last minute he dropped down which didn’t give me time to make adjustments so my 5 active focus points kept grabbing the background.
Love the way he fills the diagonal space! I’d “take” this one too! 😉
Good. Then, at least in this case, my judgment had merit! Thanks, Marty.
Your judgment ALWAYS has merit! 😀
Echoing Patty (and everyone else). Love that wing spread and am not at all surprised you will ‘take this’. Awe and wonder.
Thanks, EC.
Beautiful shot Ron!
We had our first Northern Harrier hunt in our meadow two days ago. Nice to see them back again since early spring. No Gray Ghost as yet.
The dry warm weather here in central VT has (in my mind) had a weird affect on birds and the lack of birds at full feeders! Hardly any action at the feeders, in the meadow, or in the gardens, just weird!
That’s too bad about your birds, Dick!
I saw quite a few harriers this morning, including one adult male and an apparent female harassing a Red-tailed Hawk.
The spread of those wings!!! No wonder that bird is such a strong flyer and such an effective hunter…once again, it’s so very nice not to be a mouse or a vole!!!……or, a bird of prey and have to hunt for food that doesn’t hold still for the gathering and may even fight back!
As you know, prey often does fight back, Patty. This morning I photographed a shrike being VERY careful with a yellow jacket before disabling and swallowing it.
Very frustrating bird to shoot – experts in being where you just were. Nicely done Ron 🙂
Frustrating is right, Zaphir! Obviously you know the drill with harriers…
A perfect way to start my day and end my weekend. This weekend our park had its annual interpretive fair, so we spent both days out there. Everybody seemed to be watching our pair of Harriers that winters at the park. It was really nice to know that they are back. I love the intense focus of the hunting bird in this shot.
Susan, a friend of a friend is moving to live very close to “your park” soon. He’s a bird photographer so I’ll bet he’ll be spending a lot of time there.
Ron, you are welcome to share my email with him, if he wants to have someone he “knows” to contact or go out in the park with. I could also put him in touch our resident “birder” who leads monthly birding tours and knows way more about our local birds than I do. I should be around until about the end of December, and back in May.
I’ll pass the word on, Susan. Thanks very much.
Fabulous flight shot Ron!
Charlotte
Thank you, Charlotte.
Beautiful!
Thanks, LS.
Awesome!
Thanks, Brian.
I’ll take this shot also! 🙂 Beautiful bird with wings fully extended and feet tucked up tight against a VERY suitable background…..
“VERY suitable background”
Judy, I was lucky in cropping this image. In the uncropped version the road and a sign are visible…