{"id":14147,"date":"2013-04-08T06:22:33","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T12:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=14147"},"modified":"2013-04-08T06:22:33","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T12:22:33","slug":"northern-harrier-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/08\/northern-harrier-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Harrier Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around here it can be relatively easy to get fairly close to the elusive Northern Harrier in the depths of winter.\u00a0 They seem to acclimate to all of the hunter traffic at the refuges and\u00a0will often hunt very close to the dirt roads and\u00a0are not\u00a0spooked by traffic, so as long as I remain in my vehicle (usually) I can\u00a0occasionally get some very nice close-up shots.<\/p>\n

It’s another story altogether in the summer when these birds almost seem to have a built-in range-finder that tells them to veer off just before they get close enough to me for a quality photo.\u00a0\u00a0 And in my experience they seem to instinctively fly between me and the sun whenever I\u00a0get almost\u00a0within range so that the light angle is poor anyway.\u00a0 Very frustrating!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"northern<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I often shoot at Farmington Bay WMA where there’s a relatively large hill with trees near the top on one side.\u00a0 Harriers like to hunt the side of that hill.\u00a0 So on\u00a0this mid-August morning (yes, summer!)\u00a0I maneuvered my pickup to a position where the trees (and part of the hill)\u00a0would be between me and any approaching harrier until the very last moment.<\/p>\n

This female didn’t even know I was there until just before this shot was taken.\u00a0 In fact, several frames earlier there\u00a0were branches from the tree in front of the birds right wing.\u00a0 She was quite surprised and immediately after this shot was taken she veered off sharply to my right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"northern<\/a><\/p>\n

At the last moment I’ve decided to include that shot to show you what I mean.\u00a0 This hawk had just noticed me.<\/p>\n

Sometimes bird photographers have to be a little crafty to get the shot.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes bird photographers have to be a little crafty to get the shot.<\/p>\n

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