![\"northern-harrier-0556](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/northern-harrier-0556-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNorthern Harriers perform a pretty neat trick with their unusually long, slender legs and feet\u00a0while they’re in flight.<\/p>\n
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This older photo of a harrier just after take-off at Farmington\u00a0shows just how long their legs are. It seems logical that those legs and feet could present a potential problem when they’re at cruising speed because anything that might disrupt airflow over their body profile would decrease aerodynamic efficiency and thus require more\u00a0effort and expenditure of energy\u00a0to stay airborne. Like most birds, including other raptors,\u00a0harriers tuck their legs up and against their rump and tail while in full flight but just how effectively do they do it?<\/p>\n
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I photographed this Northern Harrier two days ago as it hunted the edges of Goose Egg Island at Farmington Bay MBR. The image demonstrates how amazingly well their legs and feet become incorporated into the sleek profile of the\u00a0hawk in flight. Those unusually long appendages seem to virtually disappear, even in such a slender bird. I suspect that their relatively small feet (for a raptor)\u00a0make this disappearing trick a little easier\u00a0– in my experience the feet of most other raptors, when tucked,\u00a0tend to be\u00a0more conspicuous than those of harriers.<\/p>\n I know I’m not pointing out\u00a0anything new to most observers but it seems to me that many of us take this disappearing act of bird legs and feet\u00a0for granted. Some\u00a0species do it better than others and harriers are some of the best at it.<\/p>\n The adaptations of birds for flight are amazing\u00a0and this is one I often marvel at in the field, especially in harriers.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Northern Harriers perform a pretty neat trick with their unusually long, slender legs and feet while they’re in flight.<\/p>\n![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/northern-harrier-5700-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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