EYES on lunch! With a flock of floating Redheads in the bag, I was on the prowl for any flying critter. As luck would have it, I stopped at the right place to glass the snow-dotted...

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

With a flock of floating Redheads in the bag, I was on the prowl for any flying critter. As luck would have it, I stopped at the right place to glass the snow-dotted grassy fields at a local impoundment.

For TWENTY minutes this young Northern Harrier provided a series of instinctive behaviors within easy range of my f5.6 400mm lens. I have never seen a harrier carry matted grass before. Wonder if it is a female.

Carrying matted grass

Returning after depositing the grass clump

Lunch, oh so close!

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Nice photos --- I like number three the best. :thumbup:

jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia

all are exceptional, three is my fav.

Robin Poole Loc: Missoula, Mt

CanonShot wrote:

With a flock of floating Redheads in the bag, I was on the prowl for any flying critter. As luck would have it, I stopped at the right place to glass the snow-dotted grassy fields at a local impoundment.

For TWENTY minutes this young Northern Harrier provided a series of instinctive behaviors within easy range of my f5.6 400mm lens. I have never seen a harrier carry matted grass before. Wonder if it is a female.

Canon, During courtship some male raptors will bring nest material to their female of interest. That is probably how us human males found out it helps to bring or send flowers to our dream lady. One possible, but probably not probable explanation of the load of grass in your pic Nice job of getting focus on the BIDF,s Robin

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

Robin Poole wrote:

Canon, During courtship some male raptors will bring nest material to their female of interest. That is probably how us human males found out it helps to bring or send flowers to our dream lady. One possible, but probably not probable explanation of the load of grass in your pic Nice job of getting focus on the BIDF,s Robin

Thank you, Robin, for that nesting material info... and the reminder that V-day is closing in... and your thoughts about the images.

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

jrb1213 wrote:

all are exceptional, three is my fav.

Agree with your "fav" choice... mine too. I couldn't wait to get home and make that a desktop background.

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

flyguy wrote:

Nice photos --- I like number three the best. :thumbup:

I had my 5D3 set for the snowy field and open space images, and when that raptor swooped up and then down over those brambles I knew I got the pose right compositionally, but I was worried about the exposure settings for that location. Things worked, but I hope one of these days I will anticipate shots like that. Just another one of those photog challenges.

Robin Poole Loc: Missoula, Mt

CanonShot wrote:

Thank you, Robin, for that nesting material info... and the reminder that V-day is closing in... and your thoughts about the images.

Ok Canon,, but I get pretty critical cause I've taken so many thousands of birds and screwed up most of them. One &3 are good pics because they show so much of the bird but the background clashes with the subject too much imho Therefore I go with two he or she is in fast flite more than1&3. and has a better background, imho. Keep shooting You'll get1 & 3 with a cool background. Robin

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

Robin Poole wrote:

Ok Canon,, but I get pretty critical cause I've taken so many thousands of birds and screwed up most of them. One &3 are good pics because they show so much of the bird but the background clashes with the subject too much imho Therefore I go with two he or she is in fast flite more than1&3. and has a better background, imho. Keep shooting You'll get1 & 3 with a cool background. Robin

I couldn't agree with you more, Robin. In those 20 minutes I took nearly 200 images. That background was problematic so I just kept making mini-setting adjustments every time the raptor set its feet on the ground. It kept doing these little "pop ups" where it did four or five wing beats (rising 2-3 feet) and then settled back down. Those fields are planted to attract harriers and short-eared owls and you get what you get (setting-wise), but you can get really neat close-up moments... few EVER like the closeness and duration I had this time.

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

CanonShot wrote:

I had my 5D3 set for the snowy field and open space images, and when that raptor swooped up and then down over those brambles I knew I got the pose right compositionally, but I was worried about the exposure settings for that location. Things worked, but I hope one of these days I will anticipate shots like that. Just another one of those photog challenges.

Mike, if you had adjusted for the snow then your exposure should have been correct for the bird, too. I've never seen a harrier carrying nesting material before, so great job there. As to the background, yes it is distracting but that is the nature of shooting harriers. They spend a lot of time in the grass. What f/stop were you using? Shooting wide open might have blurred some of that out.

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

birdpix wrote:

Mike, if you had adjusted for the snow then your exposure should have been correct for the bird, too. I've never seen a harrier carrying nesting material before, so great job there. As to the background, yes it is distracting but that is the nature of shooting harriers. They spend a lot of time in the grass. What f/stop were you using? Shooting wide open might have blurred some of that out.

Shooting at f5.6 would have been optimum, but I was at f7.1. Not long ago you offered the same advice, and apparently, I NEED to pay attention. I did not adjust for the snow.

My other 5D3 settings were: shutter priority, ISO 800, 1/1600, and +1 step. The first two images were f10 and f11, respectively.

As always, Ed, I do appreciate your guidance and comments. When that harrier first picked up that nesting material, I thought it was part and parcel of a "critter for lunch" event. However, it dropped the material and just sat back down... kind of scratching at the grassy clump. Then, it picked it up, took several steps, and flew away with it in tow. The raptor flew to a spot farther out in the field, dropped it off, and returned. Close to ten minutes later, it grabbed a mouse/vole and enjoyed lunch.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

CanonShot wrote:

With a flock of floating Redheads in the bag, I was on the prowl for any flying critter. As luck would have it, I stopped at the right place to glass the snow-dotted grassy fields at a local impoundment.

For TWENTY minutes this young Northern Harrier provided a series of instinctive behaviors within easy range of my f5.6 400mm lens. I have never seen a harrier carry matted grass before. Wonder if it is a female.

Nice series. :thumbup: :thumbup:

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

Good ones - thanks for sharing!

CanonShot Loc: Lancaster County, PA

bcheary and Raymond, thanks for stopping by. Here's hoping both of you get a 20-minute photo adventure in the near future.