![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9966-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-9966-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSometimes wind is the bird photographer’s friend.<\/p>\n
Eleven days ago there was a brisk and very cold north wind blowing along the Antelope Island causeway, which turned out to be nearly ideal conditions for photographing the several Northern Harriers that were hunting along the shore. Harriers like to frolic in the wind and flying into the wind slowed them down, making them an easier target.\u00a0 And on this morning at least, they seemed less nervous about the occasional vehicle coming by, so they were flying closer to the causeway road than usual.<\/p>\n
So wouldn’t you know, my Canon R5 chose that morning to become an intractable SOB. On its own, it switched my white balance setting to “Tungsten” instead of “Auto white balance” and I didn’t notice it in the field, so all of my harrier shots had a strong, unnatural and highly annoying blue cast. After getting over my huge disappointment, I figured out a way to mostly correct the colors in Photoshop.<\/p>\n
All of the photos below have been corrected to the best of my abilities (which are limited, to be sure). Several of them still have a slight blue cast in the harrier’s wings but they look a hell of a lot better than they did out of the camera. I liked these shots well enough that I thought they deserved to see the light of day.<\/p>\n
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This may not be my favorite of the bunch, but it provides a pretty good sense of some of the causeway habitat, with a mix of blue water, ice and ground partially covered with vegetation.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0656-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0656-ron-dudley\\"")
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I rarely capture a harrier in flight with its wings swept this far forward.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0520-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0520-ron-dudley\\"")
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This bird and the previous one still have some of the blue cast in their wings. I still like both photos.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0587-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0587-ron-dudley\\"")
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This bird was banking to its left, which provided a good look at all of its dorsal surfaces.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0320-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0320-ron-dudley\\"")
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Typically, harriers are looking down as they hunt but when I\u2019m choosing images to post I tend to choose photos where they\u2019re giving me better eye contact, if photos like that exist. Eye contact doesn\u2019t get much stronger than it is here.<\/p>\n
This isn’t the most attractive habitat along the causeway, but harriers like to hunt it because voles prefer it.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0246-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0246-ron-dudley\\"")
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At least one of the harriers that morning was an immature male but this guy was the only adult male. I photographed him several times.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0093-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0093-ron-dudley\\"")
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This harrier was flying into such a strong headwind it was almost stationary in the air, making for an easy target.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-9996-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-9996-ron-dudley\\"")
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I like the way this harrier is positioned almost perfectly in front of the bluish mix of ice and water, with vegetation above and below. I got three shots that look almost exactly like this one.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/northern-harrier-0469-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0469-ron-dudley\\"")
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The adult male was the only harrier that morning that I saw catch a vole but of course he took off away from me with the vole in his talons. At least I got his yellow eye. And the vole of course.<\/p>\n
I know, I’ve been posting quite a few harrier photos lately so I don’t plan on posting any more anytime soon. But if I have to overdose my readers on any species, I’m glad it’s harriers. I chose my personalized HARRIER license plates for a reason.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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Sometimes wind is the bird photographer’s friend. (9 photos)<\/p>\n