![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/wilsons-snipe-2182-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"wilsons-snipe-2182-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAll good things must come to an end.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Four days ago, this rather unremarkable photo was the last shot I took of the hundreds of Wilson’s Snipes I spent over an hour with. Soon after I took this photo a sudden and unexpected fly-by by two avian ‘intruders’ brought my session with the snipes to a very abrupt end.<\/p>\n
A low-flying Snowy Egret approached from the east and a low-flying immature Northern Harrier approached from the northwest at exactly the same time and scared off the entire flock of over 200 snipes. The snipes didn’t see either bird coming until the last second because the egret came in over an elevated road and the harrier approached over a tall stand of phragmites. So when the snipes finally did see them, they panicked and were gone in an instant.<\/p>\n
I could only see the egret through my windshield so I couldn’t photograph it but…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/northern-harrier-2193.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-2193\\"")
<\/p>\n
1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I got quite a few shots of the harrier, who calmly flew over the massed flock of fleeing snipes without even reacting to them. In this shot the harrier is actually watching the snipes make their getaway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I have photos of harriers I like better than these two but for me at least, harriers have been almost nonexistent since late last winter so I was delighted to see this bird up close and get some shots. It had been so long since I’d been able to get any decent harrier photos I was beginning to wonder if I should remove the photo of my HARRIER vanity plate from the top of my blog, for fear of being accused of false advertising.<\/p>\n I actually saw six harriers that morning (four of them were hunting together and they appeared<\/em><\/span> to be hunting cooperatively – I saw that group twice) so things are looking up on the harrier front.<\/p>\n I’ll never forget that split-second when all those snipes took off. Imagine the pandemonium and racket when that many panicked and tightly packed snipes took off right outside my open pickup window. It was completely unexpected so I just about jumped out of my skin. Oh well, at least it was birds that scared them off rather than the nearby duck hunters.<\/p>\n If it had been hunters I’d have felt far less magnanimous about it.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All good things must come to an end. (3 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/northern-harrier-2211.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-2211\\"")
<\/p>\n