Mia and I\u00a0first found the bird (a young male just transitioning to adult plumage)\u00a0perched close to the road and as we\u00a0attempted to get close for some shots it lifted off, just as we expected.\u00a0 I assumed it was long gone as usually happens with these birds but that’s not how it turned out.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/1000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n As we were preparing to\u00a0drive further down the road we noticed the harrier coming back and it landed quite close to us again.\u00a0 Very unusual, so we\u00a0decided to hang around and see how the cards played out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0The harrier began to call.\u00a0 Sometimes it sounded like the typical harrier call that I’ve heard so many times in the past\u00a0but occasionally this bird sounded different – Mia thought it sounded almost like a parrot.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a01\/1000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It stayed on the same perch for a couple of minutes, calling much of the time and then took off…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n and landed very close to us again.\u00a0 It stayed for a few\u00a0seconds and then took off again.\u00a0\u00a0 At this point I had taken off my teleconverter because he was so close I was clipping too many shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a01\/2000, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Take off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n Take-off continued.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n Getting up to speed.\u00a0 He would fly a short distance up the road, turn around again…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0and then come back our way<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n and land\u00a0quite close to us\u00a0again.\u00a0 For some reason he was very reluctant to leave the immediate area.\u00a0 I wondered if he had a freshly killed meal\u00a0nearby but I don’t think that was indicated by his behavior.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n He stayed on this perch for a few seconds<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0and then took off once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n Flew a short distance<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n and landed again.\u00a0 For over 45 minutes this bird repeated the same pattern – land for a few seconds or minutes (often calling when perched) then take off and land somewhere very\u00a0close along the same side of the road.\u00a0 Sometimes he landed in relatively open raised areas (as in these photos) and other times in deep vegetation but I’m certain he wasn’t hunting.\u00a0 I’ve seen these birds hunting enough to easily recognize it.\u00a0 In the time I watched\u00a0him I’d estimate that he repeated this take-off\/landing behavior roughly 20 times, all in the same 100′ or so of the side of the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n I’ve wondered if it could have been some kind of territorial display directed at other harriers but for most of this 45 minutes there were no other harriers in the vicinity that I was aware of, although twice during that time period another male flew in from the east and this bird chased him off.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"northern-harrier-9512\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/northern-harrier-9512.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-9512\\"")
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