Volant Strips, PA 2/21/2022 - just at sunset
The male Northern Harrier, or “gray ghost” is specially designed for silent hunting: Its long, broad wings allow it to cruise low, with minimal flapping, and it moves slowly for a hawk. Northern Harriers hunt using their ears as well as their eyes, and to help them they’ve evolved a special circular arrangement of stiff feathers on their face that collects the sounds of rustling creatures and focuses them on the bird’s ears.
Only adult males are “gray ghosts” with gray feathers on the back and pure white below, with black on the tips and trailing edge of the wings. (text taken from an Audubon article)

Volant Strips, PA 2/21/2022 - just at sunset
The male Northern Harrier, or “gray ghost” is specially designed for silent hunting: Its long, broad wings allow it to cruise low, with minimal flapping, and it moves slowly for a hawk. Northern Harriers hunt using their ears as well as their eyes, and to help them they’ve evolved a special circular arrangement of stiff feathers on their face that collects the sounds of rustling creatures and focuses them on the bird’s ears.
Only adult males are “gray ghosts” with gray feathers on the back and pure white below, with black on the tips and trailing edge of the wings. (text taken from an Audubon article)