{"id":92159,"date":"2020-12-08T05:42:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T12:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=92159"},"modified":"2020-12-08T07:22:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T14:22:59","slug":"a-frosty-northern-harrier-takeoff-and-flight-in-very-warm-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/08\/a-frosty-northern-harrier-takeoff-and-flight-in-very-warm-light\/","title":{"rendered":"A Frosty Northern Harrier Takeoff And Flight In Very Warm Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

The combination of cold frost and warm light almost sounds like a contradiction but those were the conditions I was dealing with yesterday morning soon after dawn.<\/p>\n

The following seven photos are sequential in a burst without any skips.<\/em><\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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

It was about 20\u00b0 F. so virtually everything was covered with frost when I spotted this adult female Northern Harrier hunkered down in the vegetation. She wasn’t particularly close but the light angle was good so I drove by her and then turned my pickup around so I could photograph her out my window. As I was approaching she called out a couple of times which often means they’re about to take off but thankfully she decided against it and allowed me to stop my pickup and get her in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

All that busy, frost covered vegetation in the very warm light might be a less than ideal combination but it’s what I had to deal with so I settled in and waited for her to take off..<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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

This stretched-out posture, the ‘wing fling’, illustrates the unusually long wings that accompany the long tail of Northern Harriers.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 first downstroke of her wings lifted her light body some distance off the ground.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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

Now she’s becoming more isolated from all that busy vegetation. Even though her shadow on the ground isn’t sharply defined, it’s complete and I like having it there. Among other things I think it helps to balance the composition.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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

Dang, I clipped about four pixels of wingtip in this shot. Following a long-winged bird in flight at these focal lengths isn’t easy but it still stings when I clip body parts.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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

Here she was so close to the left frame edge I had to crop vertically to get a composition that was (barely) acceptable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 last shot in the series. I got two more but by then I was beginning to lose sharp focus on her so I’m not including either one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thankfully harrier numbers in northern Utah seem to be up this year, after several years of fewer than usual birds. I’ve been seeing more and more American Kestrels and Rough-legged Hawks and Bald Eagles are arriving in reasonably good numbers too. Just last night an even dozen eagles were reported at Willard Bay.<\/p>\n

If we ever get any snow maybe, just maybe, it’ll be a good winter for raptors. It’s been a while.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The combination of cold frost and warm light almost sounds like a contradiction but those were the conditions I was dealing with yesterday morning soon after dawn.<\/p>\n

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