Grey Ghost Greets Me
This morning, during my drive to work, in Cherry Creek State Park, at the intersection of the main road and Jordan Road (aka Gun Club Road) this male Northern harrier flew in my direction. The light was grey this morning, perfectly suiting his grey feathers.
This is just one of several "keepers" that I got in under three-seconds of shooting You have to be ready to shoot, with all your settings selected, have the camera readily at hand as you prowl for subjects, make sure that the lens is cool to avoid distortion caused by heat/cold interaction as you shoot the camera out of the car, turn the car off to prevent heat wave distorting the image and, oh yeah, getting the camera aimed on the bird and locked on. My Sony cameras are amazing, but it does take some practice to develop the skills.
There's more to the story. They call the male of this species "The Grey Ghost", not because he's a Confederate Army raider, but because he's so rare to see. In this case, I saw him hunting for a few seconds in the territory of a female Northern harrier, when she swooped in and chased him away. I thought that it might be mating interaction, but there was no playfulness and she drove him straight away, over the tree line and turned back to her territory. I hope that we do have some mating. I think that this male covers a huge territory, including all areas of Cherry Creek State Park.
Great details to observe by viewing full-screen.
Grey Ghost Greets Me
This morning, during my drive to work, in Cherry Creek State Park, at the intersection of the main road and Jordan Road (aka Gun Club Road) this male Northern harrier flew in my direction. The light was grey this morning, perfectly suiting his grey feathers.
This is just one of several "keepers" that I got in under three-seconds of shooting You have to be ready to shoot, with all your settings selected, have the camera readily at hand as you prowl for subjects, make sure that the lens is cool to avoid distortion caused by heat/cold interaction as you shoot the camera out of the car, turn the car off to prevent heat wave distorting the image and, oh yeah, getting the camera aimed on the bird and locked on. My Sony cameras are amazing, but it does take some practice to develop the skills.
There's more to the story. They call the male of this species "The Grey Ghost", not because he's a Confederate Army raider, but because he's so rare to see. In this case, I saw him hunting for a few seconds in the territory of a female Northern harrier, when she swooped in and chased him away. I thought that it might be mating interaction, but there was no playfulness and she drove him straight away, over the tree line and turned back to her territory. I hope that we do have some mating. I think that this male covers a huge territory, including all areas of Cherry Creek State Park.
Great details to observe by viewing full-screen.