![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/northern-harrier-7679-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI often see groups of harriers off in the distance but it’s rare for me to be close enough to\u00a0photograph two different birds in such a short time span. And this time one of them was an adult male – the elusive “gray ghost”.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/4000, f\/8, ISO 1000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I encountered the male five days ago along the Antelope Island\u00a0causeway as I headed home from the island after a frustrating and mostly birdless morning. I was only able to get a blue sky background with him but I did\u00a0catch him\u00a0banking in the wind with good light and eye contact.\u00a0My shutter speed and ISO were unnecessarily\u00a0high but when he dropped below the horizon the darker mud flats dropped my SS so I didn’t dare fiddle much with my settings.<\/p>\n I wasn’t quite\u00a0as close as I’d prefer to be with this lens but given that caveat I thought the images turned out reasonably well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/4000, f\/8, ISO 1000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I found his flight posture in the next frame to be quite interesting because I don’t believe I’ve ever captured this much downward wing extension from a Northern Harrier in flight.\u00a0 To my eye the left wing almost looks to be artificially stretched, as if we’re looking at the bird in one of those distorting carnival mirrors or through a software distortion filter on a computer.\u00a0 Combined with the head position I find the image amusing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/8, ISO 1000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Less than five minutes later I photographed an even more cooperative harrier along the causeway.\u00a0This bird (an adult female I believe) and the previous male actually performed some sky dancing for a few moments – a sure sign of (early) spring.<\/p>\n I rarely (as in almost never)\u00a0get this much detail on the white rump patch of a Northern Harrier so for me it’s a treat to see those individual feathers for a change. That patch is notoriously difficult to expose properly and usually it’s a\u00a0struggle just to keep the whites from blowing out, much less get any detail in them (compare this image to the first two shots of the male).<\/p>\n I find it ironic that I was able to see this detail in an image taken with my older 100-400mm zoom lens rather than one taken with my new and expensive\u00a0state-of-the art 500mm prime lens (which is still<\/em> in the shop – my 8 year old\u00a0zoom has never needed to be worked on).<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I often see groups of harriers off in the distance but it’s rare for me to be close enough to photograph two different birds in such a short time span. And this time one of them was an adult male – the elusive “gray ghost”.<\/p>\n![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/northern-harrier-7680-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/northern-harrier-7872-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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