{"id":166205,"date":"2025-01-10T05:26:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=166205"},"modified":"2025-01-10T06:14:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T13:14:16","slug":"adult-male-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-bright-blue-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/10\/adult-male-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-bright-blue-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Male Northern Harrier In Flight Over Bright Blue Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Blue&#8217; seems to be a theme in my photos lately.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday morning was sunny and cold with bright blue skies and a stiff north breeze blowing &#8211; in my experience, those are perfect conditions to turn standing water into an intense blue color. Throw about a half dozen Northern Harriers of both sexes and various ages into the mix and you have a recipe for some exciting times for this bird photographer. It took some creative driving but I got quite a few photos I like.<\/p>\n<p>The harriers were hunting along the shore, so in many of my shots there was mostly very blue water in the background. Because of the wind direction, they typically had their backs turned partially to me so I really struggled to get good looks at their faces with eye contact but I had enough chances to get lucky occasionally.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166206\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/10\/adult-male-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-bright-blue-water\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1736441523&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00015625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"northern harrier 9856 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166206 size-full\" title=\"northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9856-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>1\/6400, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This adult male was one of my successes. He briefly looked my way as he cruised by, but most of the time he was looking away from me and down as he searched for voles on the ground. He caught one while I was with him but he immediately took off away from me so all I got was butt shots of him with the vole.<\/p>\n<p>These three photos are sequential shots in a burst.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166207\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/10\/adult-male-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-bright-blue-water\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1736441523&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00015625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"northern harrier 9857 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166207 size-full\" title=\"northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9857-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>1\/6400, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In all that blue, his yellow eye stands out like a beacon.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166208\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/10\/adult-male-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-bright-blue-water\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;7.1&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1736441523&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00015625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"northern harrier 9858 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166208 size-full\" title=\"northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>1\/6400, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I was pleased to get three different wing positions in the three sequential photos. Usually, their flight postures would be nearly identical.<\/p>\n<p>After the kingfisher photo I posted two days ago where the bird was bathed in blue light, today&#8217;s post may be overdosing my readers on blue. But all I can do is post the photos I take and lately, blue seems to dominate.<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Sheesh, thanks to friend Steve Creek, I now know that part of the blue in these photos was due to incorrectly set white balance. Everything was blue but apparently not this blue. First time that&#8217;s ever happened.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Blue&#8217; seems to be a theme in my photos lately. (3 photos)<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/10\/adult-male-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-bright-blue-water\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[334,341],"tags":[7715,86,7223,311],"class_list":["post-166205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds","category-northern-harriers","tag-blue-background","tag-circus-cyaneus","tag-male-northern-harrier-in-flight","tag-utah-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9858-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-HeJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166205"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166230,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166205\/revisions\/166230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}