Harriers have Arrived!

[Loupey]

With the recent snows comes these beauties. First ones I've seen. Should stick around until the snows melt in February/March.

[Cassie1]

Great capture Loupey They are certainly wonderful birds of prey.

Cassie.

[Jaedon]

Wow I have never seen one of these before. Their faces look almost owl like. Nice captures Loupey. Keep em coming..... as if I need to say that lol. If they're going to be around till Feb or March I expect to see lots more shots in the coming months.

[Loupey]

Cassie - thanks for looking. Yes, I can never not shoot these guys when they are nearby.

Jaedon - OK, just remember those words come February/March when there is a Yet Another Harrier Shot thread I will definitely keep improving on these. Hope to get one with prey on snow this winter. We'll see.

[AgingEyes]

Not a good shot, but Pualnj says it's a young northern harrier.

Posted earlier this month on the id thread:

[AmberC]

Awesome! Cant wait to see more!

Amber

[paulnj]

I seen a few yesterday (2 males!!!). They are great fun to watch hunt!

[Knight]

Good captures truly a joy to watch With a little wind they can hover pretty good.

[Loupey]

Nice catch, AgingEyes!

Thanks for looking, Amber, PaulNJ, and Knight. The NH had quickly become one of my favorites since they fly so low and we often have gross gray/white skies.

The second image is from a botched series. I had inadvertently set the 40D to One Shot mode and when this harrier took off (more or less towards me), I sat on the shutter release button expecting to test out the 6.5 fps chain gun. Of course it went "clunk" and I said "oh, s**t (shoot)". I ended up getting another 4 or so old-fashion-style until it passed me. So much for the high speed camera

Thanks again.

[starriderrick]

I sat on the shutter release button expecting to test out the 6.5 fps chain gun. Of course it went "clunk" and I said "oh, s**t (shoot)". I ended up getting another 4 or so old-fashion-style until it passed me. So much for the high speed

I have lost many a shot of birds while "day dreaming" as well.

Thanks for sharing these beautiful birds.I look forward to more as well. Happy shooting.