BIF's (Hawks, Vultures and more..

PrescottPhotog

Hi Everyone,

Well after posting the Hawks two days ago, I went back out the next morning. I was setting up and adjusting my camera (under my camo gear) and all of a sudden I heard this loud "whoosh" and the end of my 500mm jerked.. After cleaning out my pants I realized it was an Northern Harrier that didn't see me and when searching for critters hit the end of my lens with its wing tip. It came at me from the side so I didn't see it coming but it definitely woke me up. It was gray in color and later, after looking it up, I found out it was a male adult Northern Harrier. I got a shot but it was OOF.

Then these Turkey Vultures came around (the juvies are so much easier to photo than the adults, those red heads give me fits).

It was windy so all the soaring birds had a good day. I'm in heaven here, the birds are definitely coming back.. eagles soaring, red tailed hawks, lots of snowy egrets (got some great shots today that I will post over the weekend).

Hope you enjoy !! Comments are welcome.

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#1

jdmphoto

Great work, beautiful captures.
I think they are all good but I really like the Harriers and the
Great Blue Heron.

raptorcaptor

Excellent set Chris! Must have been a bit of a shock having a Harrier bump into you like that! Both the juveniles, and the female Northern Harriers are the brown reddish color, and the males are gray. I think the juveniles have more brown on their breast but I'm not sure offhand.

PrescottPhotog

jdmphoto wrote:

Great work, beautiful captures.
I think they are all good but I really like the Harriers and the
Great Blue Heron.

Hi JDM, Thanks for viewing and for your comments.

PrescottPhotog

raptorcaptor wrote:

Excellent set Chris! Must have been a bit of a shock having a Harrier bump into you like that! Both the juveniles, and the female Northern Harriers are the brown reddish color, and the males are gray. I think the juveniles have more brown on their breast but I'm not sure offhand.

Hi Glenn, Thanks for your comments. Shocked is an understatement, I couldn't figure out what was going on. When I turned around I saw this whiteish-gray hawk just cruising away. I don't think it even realized I was there.

I just got a new Peterson "Hawks" book, the detail and drawings are great. I have seen hundreds of N.H's but have never seen a gray male before.. and what a way to meet one.

Maestro

Nice series. Wonderful captures of the harrier especially.

PrescottPhotog

Maestro wrote:

Nice series. Wonderful captures of the harrier especially.

Hi Stephen, Thanks for the comments. The straight on shots turned out pretty good considering I have been having a terrible time capturing them. The other day two GBH's were fighting in flight and coming directly toward me right at the waterline. It was a perfect set up.. so I took a bunch of shots as they approached me dead on and not one of them was in focus, . I got lucky this time.

Shasoc

PrescottPhotog wrote:

Hi Stephen, Thanks for the comments. The straight on shots turned out pretty good considering I have been having a terrible time capturing them. The other day two GBH's were fighting in flight and coming directly toward me right at the waterline. It was a perfect set up.. so I took a bunch of shots as they approached me dead on and not one of them was in focus, . I got lucky this time.

Excellent job, and great captures.

Fabs

Lovely flight shots. Miss the catchlight in some of them...

WildWally

Awesome set !!!
#'s 4 and 11 are my favorites for sure .

PrescottPhotog

Shasoc wrote:

Excellent job, and great captures.

Hi Socrate, Thanks for your compliments.

PrescottPhotog

Fabs wrote:

Lovely flight shots. Miss the catchlight in some of them...

Hi Fabs, Thanks for viewing and for your comments. I find the Harriers to have a very dark eye line and eye-ring as well as very dark eyes, unlike the Osprey or Eagle's that have eyes that almost seem to glow.

Good comment though and thanks again for viewing.

PrescottPhotog

WildWally wrote:

Awesome set !!!
#'s 4 and 11 are my favorites for sure .

Hi Walt, Thanks for viewing and for your comments.

Ric Grupe

Nice set!

Number four is a killer shot! (no pun intended)

PrescottPhotog

Ric Grupe wrote:

Nice set!

Number four is a killer shot! (no pun intended)

Hi Ric, Thanks for your comments. I was going to post a full crop of the shot to show how close he was but it was useless, he just barely fit in the full crop on my 500.. not much room to spare.

riddim_maker

WOW! Great captures of the Northern Harrier.
Impressive, especially the head-on shots. Congratulations Chris