![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/northern-harrier-9212-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOnce our summer heat arrives I sometimes post images from previous winters just for the psychological relief from the sweltering temperatures.\u00a0 This is such a post.<\/p>\n
The winter of 2008 was severe and it put a lot of survival pressure on our resident birds, particularly raptors.\u00a0 The number of Northern Harriers wintering over at Farmington Bay seemed unusually high and toward the end of the winter there was intense competition for dwindling food supplies.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/1250, f\/10, ISO 500, Canon 40D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n These two harriers were fighting over the carcass of a dead Mallard, some of which can be seen near their tails.\u00a0\u00a0 Fighting over food was common that winter, much more so than I’ve seen since.\u00a0 This image, taken in mid-February, shows one of the more common fighting postures.\u00a0\u00a0 Even though we can’t see them here the birds are slashing at each other with their talons.\u00a0 Believe me, they’re lightning fast when they do so.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/1000, f\/10, ISO 400, Canon 40D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Three days earlier these two were feeding on what was left of a very large carp.\u00a0 Harriers aren’t normally fish-eaters but during a winter like that one they were much more flexible in their diet than usual.\u00a0 At this point these two birds were satiated and relatively peaceful but there was still a lot of tension in the air.<\/p>\n The invasive\u00a0carp were killed by refuge personnel in an effort to reduce the amount of damage they do to emergent vegetation on the refuge.\u00a0 Bald Eagles would sometimes drag the dead fish\u00a0up onto the ice to feed.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0 I’m on an extended camping\/photo trip to Montana and\u00a0internet access\u00a0is intermittent at best so I won’t be able to respond to\u00a0comments that may be posted\u00a0(though I do get the comment emails on my phone when I have a signal and I enjoy reading them).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The winter of 2008 was severe and it put a lot of survival pressure on our resident birds, particularly raptors. The number of Northern Harriers wintering over at Farmington Bay seemed unusually high and toward the end of the winter there was intense competition for dwindling food supplies.<\/p>\n![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/northern-harrier-8443-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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