![\"\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/northern-harrier-1419.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-1419\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nHarrier hunting voles near the Great Salt Lake<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n However the easy life takes a major turn for the worse during unusually harsh winters with intense cold and deep snow packs.\u00a0 During these times the voles spend most of their time underground eating roots and\u00a0dried\u00a0vegetation which means the primary source of food for harriers is suddenly unavailable just when they most need nourishment for warmth. \u00a0And since most songbirds (their fall-back food source) have either migrated south or have\u00a0already succumbed to the many American Kestrels in the region, simple survival for the harriers is suddenly very precarious.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, out of desperation, \u00a0harriers begin to go for larger prey – ducks and coots for example.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Harrier on a duck kill frozen into the ice<\/em><\/p>\n They aren’t able to take these prey often and when they do they can’t eat them quickly like they can a vole.\u00a0 The result is intense aggression – fighting fiercely over food. \u00a0Typically I see very little true aggression(other than territorial squabbles)\u00a0between harriers but all that changes when food becomes scarce.\u00a0 A relatively large prey item will provide\u00a0multiple harriers with enough food for several\u00a0days but it’s apparently not in their nature to share.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Typical posture over a kill (Mallard)\u00a0to prevent other harriers from trying to feed on “their” meal<\/p>\n There’s lots of posturing and body language at a kill in an attempt to prevent fighting but in harsh times it’s usually to no avail and fighting is commonplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n so.<\/p>\n Harriers fighting over a Mallard (under the tail of bird on right).\u00a0 Note the talons imbedded in the chest of the harrier on the left.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>The fighting can be vicious.\u00a0 Their weapon of choice is their feet and talons and they are incredibly fast with them.\u00a0 Blazingly so.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Fighting\u00a0over winter-killed fish<\/em><\/p>\n When voles are accessible I’ve never once seen harriers eating fish, even when the fish are readily available, but when the birds are starving they take the fish very seriously.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Two harriers, stuffed to the gills on carp<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Even when there’s\u00a0a temporary abundance of food as in the case with this huge carp,\u00a0tranquility doesn’t last long.\u00a0 The two birds above had eaten their fill in peace since the fish was so large they could both feed without the other seeming to be a threat.\u00a0 However, even when finished feeding they defended their fish against other harriers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A surprise attack<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n The two harriers were\u00a0satiated on carp and so lethargic they didn’t even\u00a0notice another challenger coming in\u00a0until the very last moment.\u00a0 As you can\u00a0see they were\u00a0caught off guard but they still defended their meal and another vicious fight broke out.\u00a0<\/p>\n I watched these fights\u00a0a number of times over several\u00a0 weeks.\u00a0 Interestingly, all\u00a0of them\u00a0involved females or possibly juvenile males.\u00a0 Even though there were adult males in the immediate vicinity they never actively joined in the competition for food.\u00a0 Since then I’ve learned why.\u00a0\u00a0According to\u00a0Birds of North America (BNA) Online “females are dominant to males” and “females win virtually all aggressive interactions with males”.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n