Sorry about not providing image techs – finding them would take time I don’t have<\/em><\/p>\nAs they occasionally do this bird was hunting as close to the tops of the phragmites as it could in order to give it the quickest chance possible at any prey it might spot on the ground about 6 feet or more below. It was even flying below some of the tallest brown\u00a0panicles (I call them tassels) and brushing some of them enough to make them move from the contact or the air currents. As you can see from its posture it was hovering more than it was flying forward –\u00a0harriers are\u00a0quite slow and deliberate in flight when they’re hunting this way.<\/p>\n
The composition of the image is a little tight on the hawk\u00a0but I can live with that The photo was taken at Farmington WMA\u00a0long ago and I’ve always liked it. I posted it once before way back on Dec. 2, 2012 so I figured it’s been long enough\u00a0that\u00a0most current viewers have never seen it.<\/p>\n
Hopefully I’ll soon be able to post more\u00a0recent photos but for the last few weeks my morning shooting time has been taken up by doctor appointments, CT scans, MRI’s, ultrasound scans and various “procedures” (a euphemism for painful or at least uncomfortable medical techniques). Thankfully there have been no dire diagnoses as of yet but no miracle cures or magic bullets either.<\/p>\n
I didn’t mention my health challenges to elicit sympathy – far from it.\u00a0In fact I’d be grateful if we don’t mention them further. But all these older photos have\u00a0altered the style of Feathered Photography to the point that I thought blog followers should know why. I’ve had to miss many wonderful opportunities with birds\u00a0recently (including a species rare to almost nonexistent in Utah) and that\u00a0frustrates the hell out of this bird photographer.<\/p>\n
Most of my scheduled appointments are behind me now so I hope to be “out there” more often if only the clouds\u00a0and the smoke from fires will cooperate. But the smoke situation looks dicey – yesterday afternoon we had what I believe to be our worst air of the fire season so far.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don’t believe I have any other harrier photos even remotely similar to this one.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/northern-harrier-0834c-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"northern-harrier-0834c-ron-dudley\\"")
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