![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/northern-harrier-4632-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSometimes raptors in flight\u00a0appear to play in the wind and Northern Harriers seem to enjoy it more than most species.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Two days ago the cold north wind here in northern Utah was really howling (over 50 mph in some places)\u00a0and this male\u00a0Northern Harrier along the Antelope Island causeway\u00a0was having a grand old time in it. The wind slowed his overall\u00a0forward\u00a0speed\u00a0so you might think that made it easier to photograph him but he was juking and jiving so much that I could barely find him in my viewfinder, much less lock focus on him. My strategy was to\u00a0drive ahead of him and then wait for him to come by in good light\u00a0and I did that several times but in the end I only got two images I like. All the rest were soft, or I cut off body parts, or the bird was too small in the frame\u00a0or they were only “air shots” (no bird in the frame at all).<\/p>\n The experience was exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, canvas added for composition, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The background in both images is the mud flats of the Great Salt Lake. Because of recent rains there are patches of standing water out there so that’s what you see here. To some it might look like this image needs to be rotated counterclockwise\u00a0because of the angle of attack of the harrier but I believe this to be close to his actual flight angle. I just happened to\u00a0catch him in the middle of one of his maneuvers.<\/p>\n For me it was an added bonus that this bird was a male. I love photographing both sexes but I’m always delighted to photograph the Gray Ghost, especially in flight.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes raptors in flight appear to play in the wind and Northern Harriers seem to enjoy it more than most species.<\/p>\n![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/northern-harrier-4617-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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