Northern Harrier on the Hunt

Colorado CJ

Here's a series of I took today of a Nothern Harrier Hawk hunting for rodents. I watched this hawk for about half an hour while it slowly glided close to the ground looking for something to catch. He got close a few times, extending his talons and almost hovering, but never did catch anything while I watched. This was a real beautiful bird and it was fun watching while I could.

These were shot with my new (to me) Tele Takumar 300mm F6.3 Preset wide open. I'm getting better at using these old manual focus lenses on moving objects. It took a little while, but it is definitely worth it! If I used my Sigma on autofocus, it would have hunted for focus and I wouldn't have made these shots.


Northern Harrier 1 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Northern Harrier 2 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Northern Harrier 3 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Northern Harrier 4 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Northern Harrier 5 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Northern Harrier 6 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr


Northern Harrier 8 by Colorado CJ, on Flickr

D90mark

Nice series and thanks for helping me ID the bird that has been driving me nuts trying to ID. I captured one at the Arsenal last weekend and for a while I thought it was an Owl. They are pretty small and the face looks a bit like an Owl.