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Gray ghost surprise!!
It's always good to wash your fruit in the morning. You may ask...."But why?".....The answer...because it means you're facing your big sliding glass doors and might spot something wonderful out in the open space behind your house. That's exactly what happened. I saw a hawk come swooping in and land right behind my fence. I assumed it was our resident red-tailed hawk.....but when I went over to look...it was flying away from me and I could see it had a white patch on top of it's tail which could only mean a Northern Harrier. However, what I didn't expect was that it was a MALE harrier or as many call it a Grey ghost!!! We have never seen a male harrier hunting behind our house. I made some inaudible sounds with my excitement.....grabbed my camera and bolted out of the back door. I really didn't expect it to hang around very long, and it didn't. It flew out of sight, but then back in sight, and then repeated this numerous times. Finally he started making some circles and made a few passes right in front of me. He also managed to fly with some very nice fall colors behind him in the distance. I will have a few more to share, but here are some of my favorites.
Nikon Z9 with Nikkor 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 lens at 600mm, 1/1600sec, F8, various ISO's from 360 to 720, handheld and cropped. (Please view images large for best details) Nov 16 2024 Northern Colorado
I went out in the coldest day thus far, clear and sunny and very few fools outdoors. as luck will have it, The Gray Ghost flew right towards me... fumbled with gloves and frozen fingers but did get a few usable images. 2017 is shaping up as a Harrier year.
Miss Lyalh made EXPLORE again :o)
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CEFX 3109 East cuts through the stiff breeze as it heads for Portage on the most frigid day of 2016 thus far. For many, these gray Alstoms have never been anything but a let down. In a somewhat sick way, I have always had a soft spot for these and their fellow "rebuilt for order" more colorful siblings of SD40/SD40-2/SD45 ilk. Numerous reporting marks were given to this massive rebuild program, which started in earnest in 1999 to quench CSX's power shortage.
The first batch was under First Union, and they all came in a lively green and silver scheme which ranged from 3000-3052. Next up was under Alstoms' own reporting marks (GCFX), which were pumped out in three scheme variations from 3053-3102. The final installment of the order was placed under Citi Bank initials, and this batch was largely rebuilt from former SP and Santa Fe SD45 hulks, ranging from 3103-3152. The 3103-3112 were in the typical gray with white chevrons, but the SD45 shells were all dressed in a vibrant blue with two italic white and green stripes on the long hood. All engines were outfitted with the same microprocessor and updated cabs, which makes spotting these rebuilds as simple as looking at the thicker plastic window gaskets.
But with it being 2016, these "fresh" SD40 rebuilds are now old again. And many from this impressive rebuild program have already found new homes on shortlines and regionals in strange side sales that make you wonder what holding company even owns which ones. Much like how they all came together, a scattered mess of Canadian and US SD40's and SD45's, they have dispersed in reverse to try and escape the torches. And with NS needing some extra power at the moment (a phenomenon I am still confused by) I guess this one fit the bill alongside the CEFX 3143 and former SOO SD60's.
The vast majority of these Alstoms that haven't been sold off yet are still on CSX property, as they were intended, but have since been stored (save for a FURX or two). So I am fairly certain that this is my last time shooting a true gray ghost leading a Class 1 train.
Farewell friend.
View in Original size: www.flickr.com/photos/nsxbirder/52724597390/sizes/o/
NORTHERN HARRIER-GRAY GHOST-01203613-
this Male Northern Harrier gave me the death stare while it was hunting for its next meal. Typically their eyes are always pointed down searching for prey, this guy happened to look my way for a split second.
"Gray Ghost" nicely near the parking in front of the check-in station. Did some flying around and returning. I didn't get any flight shots worth keeping - there was lots of cloud cover and that didn't help my photos.
KCSM 4545, a "Grey Ghost" AC4400CW, hustles north along the C&M with westbound CPKC freight 249 at Deerfield, IL.
Gray ghost surprise!!
It's always good to wash your fruit in the morning. You may ask...."But why?".....The answer...because it means you're facing your big sliding glass doors and might spot something wonderful out in the open space behind your house. That's exactly what happened. I saw a hawk come swooping in and land right behind my fence. I assumed it was our resident red-tailed hawk.....but when I went over to look...it was flying away from me and I could see it had a white patch on top of it's tail which could only mean a Northern Harrier. However, what I didn't expect was that it was a MALE harrier or as many call it a Grey ghost!!! We have never seen a male harrier hunting behind our house. I made some inaudible sounds with my excitement.....grabbed my camera and bolted out of the back door. I really didn't expect it to hang around very long, and it didn't. It flew out of sight, but then back in sight, and then repeated this numerous times. Finally he started making some circles and made a few passes right in front of me. He also managed to fly with some very nice fall colors behind him in the distance. I will have a few more to share, but here are some of my favorites.
Nikon Z9 with Nikkor 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 lens at 600mm, 1/1600sec, F8, various ISO's from 360 to 720, handheld and cropped. (Please view images large for best details) Nov 16 2024 Northern Colorado
Right place, right time. This is a dream shot for me that became a reality on 02/02/10. This male Harrier has been so hard to capture on the camera. I almost thought this shot was impossible. After spending all of last year and several full days this past week, I am thrilled to have this photograph. What a challenge it has been! Very poor lighting, or a break in the clouds only to be disappointed to not see a trace of this bird. Snowy conditions, smog, you name it, it has been very difficult. I was with my good friend Brett Colvin when I litterally had 3 seconds to capture this bird on the glass. Countless hours come down to 3 seconds....
I am very grateful!
Shot unedited.
Gray Ghost on his favorite perch by the end of the trail, with good lighting from this direction (and a little later in the morning).
Harriers, unlike most hawks, hunt with sound, and their facial feathers make make a disk-like antenna shape that 'collects' the sound, like an owl's facial feathers do. This photo shows this well.
A vintage Ford pickup looks on as CPKC 181, today sporting two KCSM "Grey Ghost" AC4400CWs, hustles through Hampshire, IL.
Cruising the fields and greenways of Plainfield and Bolingbrook. Endangered in Illinois. Interesting fact: For this species, there are two females for every male. Note: I swapped the first and second photos after some comments were made.
The male northern harrier is also known as the "Gray Ghost". Here he was hunting near the entrance to the Sacramento NWR
Dave, 9 weeks old weimaraner (Gray Ghost). He couldn´t stay still even one second :)
My personal favorite of Dave :
KCSM 4548 ("Grey Ghost" AC4400CW) leads CPKC 541 solo, seen here passing underneath the Tower B-12 signals in Franklin Park, IL while on its way to Tower B-17, where it will turn north towards the C&M.
Gray ghost surprise!!
It's always good to wash your fruit in the morning. You may ask...."But why?".....The answer...because it means you're facing your big sliding glass doors and might spot something wonderful out in the open space behind your house. That's exactly what happened. I saw a hawk come swooping in and land right behind my fence. I assumed it was our resident red-tailed hawk.....but when I went over to look...it was flying away from me and I could see it had a white patch on top of it's tail which could only mean a Northern Harrier. However, what I didn't expect was that it was a MALE harrier or as many call it a Grey ghost!!! We have never seen a male harrier hunting behind our house. I made some inaudible sounds with my excitement.....grabbed my camera and bolted out of the back door. I really didn't expect it to hang around very long, and it didn't. It flew out of sight, but then back in sight, and then repeated this numerous times. Finally he started making some circles and made a few passes right in front of me. He also managed to fly with some very nice fall colors behind him in the distance. I will have a few more to share, but here are some of my favorites.
Nikon Z9 with Nikkor 180-600mm F5.6-6.3 lens at 600mm, 1/1600sec, F8, various ISO's from 360 to 720, handheld and cropped. (Please view images large for best details) Nov 16 2024 Northern Colorado
A male northern harrier, or gray ghost makes a close flyby in some perfect evening light. I see lots of male northern harriers, but they are most often skittish. It was an incredible experience to find one in Pt. Reyes that was totally indifferent to people. He often flew only 15ft away from me during his daily hunting routine.\
Northern Harrier of Mercer
The Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) also known as the Hen Harrier is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA, and in northern Eurasia. This species is polytypic, with two subspecies. Marsh Hawk is a historical name for the American form.
It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Europe and southern temperate Asia, and American breeders to the southernmost USA, Mexico, and Central America. In the mildest regions, such as France, Great Britain, and the southern US, Northern Harrier may be present all year, but the higher ground is largely deserted in winter.
Harriers have an owl-like face. The concave facial disk and relatively large off-set ears enable the bird to use triangulation of sound to help locate prey such as mice, voles, juvenile rabbits, frogs, pheasant chick, and other birds in dense vegetation. The female Harrier is larger than the male; hence, the female takes larger prey than the male.
For more info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_harrier
My daughter, Meg's, Weimaraner. She came from Weimaraner Rescue in Michigan three years ago, and is a lovely girl
The Weimaraner
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimaraner
From the sets entitled 'Sophie' and 'Cordova Lake August 2008'
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157603870220172/
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157606673752926/
Exif Info:
Camera: Canon XTi
Manual Exposure
Shutter Speed: 1/800
Aperture Value: 4
ISO: 100
WB: Cloudy
Focal Length: 70mm
Compression: RAW, then JPEG
Post Processing Info:
Canon ZoomBrowser Ex: crop, sharpening
PhotoShop Elements 5: light balancing.