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Coyote Hills
Best time today hanging out with Beth and Tom looking for the Short-eared Owls. I didn't care if I saw them, but sorry Beth didn't get to. Great views of this male Northern Harrier.
This is a male northern harrier, hunting at Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado, near Jordan Road and the main road.
This beautiful male allowed me to film him as he fed in the field. You can see his crop is full. I find these "Gray Ghosts" to be so utterly stunning. Definitely one of my favorite birds of prey! I love their owl-like faces. They hunt with silent flight, using their ears and eyes with their stiff feathers on their facial disc that collect the sounds of moving animals which then focuses them on the Harrier's ears. This is very similar to owls but you rarely see this in hawks.
Their cousins the Hen Harrier in Europe are declining so rapidly especially in the UK where there are only 4 breeding pairs left! This is mostly due to red grouse hunters (usually on rich estates) shooting them because the harriers eat the grouse. It is illegal to shoot them in the UK but sadly the shooting continues and they are the most endangered bird of prey there. Hopefully conservation efforts there will stop it from being extinct there so they can have a healthier population as their Northern cousins.
This video was filmed without a tripod... sorry :)
we woke up yesterday to about 5cm of fresh white stuff........Jackie wasn't impressed, neither were we......
I know this shot is a little dark but I intended it that way, it was quite a task to get the exposure right with all the bright light coming through the trees across the river, thought that the darkness added a bit of mood!
LARGE ~or~ View On Black
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Original File: Nikon
This is a male Northern harrier, flying low over the prairie grass and weeds at Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado. I love shots that show how low harriers fly as they hunt. The actually fly in the 20 to 30-mph range as they hunt.
I shot this handsome guy during my drive to work.
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
KCS 2022 shoves a set of autorack to the small autoport in Cottage Grove. Usually there's a single unit that is based out of here, working said autoport and the 3M plant just to the east, and just happens to be KCS 2022 recently
KCSM 4548 ("Grey Ghost" AC4400CW) leads CPKC 540 (ethanol loads) around the curve under I-90 in Des Plaines, IL, approaching Mt. Prospect Road.
What can I say? ... I have this definite attraction to gray-headed males. :-O Not just my husband either ;-), but I'm referring to the male northern harrier ... aka "the gray ghost".
Ask any of my friends that I shoot with ... I STOP for harriers (even when sometimes they're not as impressed). There's just something so cool about harriers ... maybe it's the way they glide effortlessly with such fluidity as they hunt ... maybe it's those "owl-like" features their faces possess ... maybe it's those amazing eyes. Either way, it's real.
So you can immagine how excited I was to find this one as it just finished up his mouse dinner and was perched on a post cleaning off his beak. He didn't even seem to mind my company. I think he knew how I felt. :-)
Colorado never has a shortage of raptors in the winter, that's for sure. Luckily for me, these harriers are year-round residents. I mean ... is he handsome or what?
Thanks so much for stopping by to view. Hey ... I made it 3 for 3 days in a row! I'm quite happy with myself. Happy Tuesday for sure.
© 2019 Debbie Tubridy Photography @ TNWA Photography
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