![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/northern-harrier-7120-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-7120-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nDecent harrier photos are hard for me to come by this time of year so yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA\u00a0I was pleasantly surprised when this one\u00a0flew in fairly\u00a0close.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The hawk was hunting the edge of\u00a0a curved road in front of me so I positioned myself to have a\u00a0chance at a flight shot or two if it continued to follow the road, which I fully expected it not<\/em> to do. Harriers\u00a0during cold and snowy winters\u00a0at Farmington tend to lose much of their skittishness but any other time of year they reliably veer away before approaching a vehicle or human on foot.<\/p>\n In the intensity of the hunt this one forgot what it was supposed to do.<\/p>\n But\u00a0wouldn’t you know it, I made a mistake in my choice of active focus points so I had a difficult time locking onto the bird and keeping locked on as it approached and eventually veered off. As a result this was the only shot in the series\u00a0I liked that was sharp.\u00a0Several that had more dynamic\u00a0flight postures\u00a0were as soft as a marshmallow.<\/p>\n But I’ll take it. It’s a\u00a0harrier banking\u00a0in flight in good light\u00a0with a nice head turn,\u00a0eye contact and a background and composition\u00a0that suits my tastes just fine.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Decent harrier photos are hard for me to come by this time of year so yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA I was pleasantly surprised when this one flew in fairly close.<\/p>\n