{"id":12250,"date":"2013-12-23T05:58:45","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T12:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=12250"},"modified":"2025-10-03T06:37:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T11:37:02","slug":"one-gray-ghost-a-leaping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/23\/one-gray-ghost-a-leaping\/","title":{"rendered":"One Gray Ghost A Leaping"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GrayGray Ghost (male Northern Harrier) lift off<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn’t find Ten Lords a Leaping to photograph or in my archives but did locate one Gray Ghost a Leaping which tops the Lords for this bird photographer.<\/p>\n

Any time that I have a Gray Ghost in my viewfinder is a good time.<\/p>\n

I photographed this male Northern Harrier this past January at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area where he had been resting on the dried phragmites stalks when he showed signs of lifting off and I fired away.<\/p>\n

I like how his talons are still touching the perch.<\/p>\n

The harrier may look tail-less in this image but that is because\u00a0his tail is hidden by his wings.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to view more of my Northern Harrier photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I couldn’t find Ten Lords a Leaping to photograph or in my archives but did locate one Gray Ghost a Leaping which tops the Lords for this bird photographer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,697,348,26],"tags":[4004,4021,765,3981,1124,349,4033,4169,2386,1027,4282,4062,4094,767,16824,153,4050,3792,4095,373],"class_list":["post-12250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-harriers","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-davis-county","tag-field","tag-gray-ghost","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-leaping","tag-lift-off","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-northern-harrer","tag-raptors","tag-snow","tag-take-off","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-gray-ghost-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8980.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3bA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1454,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/24\/northern-harrier-gray-ghost\/","url_meta":{"origin":12250,"position":0},"title":"Northern Harrier – Gray Ghost","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I will have more opportunities with northern harriers in better light this winter and while I wouldn't consider this image perfect, I am happy with the results I obtained while photographing this \"Gray Ghost\".","rel":"","context":"In "Davis County"","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\u201cGray Ghost\u201d, male Northern Harrier in hovering flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-harrier-mia-mcpherson-male-flight-4804.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/northern-harrier-mia-mcpherson-male-flight-4804.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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flight in a hazy sky, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-adult-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-adult-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-adult-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0507.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-adult-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0507.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4260,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/31\/northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":12250,"position":2},"title":"Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This Northern Harrier displayed interesting behavior, it didn't appear to be hunting but it would dive into the vegetation where it would make a sound that reminded me of parrots chattering.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2nd year male Northern Harrier, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-harrier-male-transition-mia-mcpherson-0160.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/northern-harrier-male-transition-mia-mcpherson-0160.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk on a nest box in early morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0179.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0179.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0179.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-0179.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20298,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/20\/northern-harriers-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":12250,"position":5},"title":"Northern Harriers On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Male Northern Harriers, also called Gray Ghosts, are especially delightful to my eye when their plumage contrasts with soft bluebird skies that have just a touch of habitat in them","rel":"","context":"In "Davis County"","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Northern Harrier with the Wasatch Range in the background, photographed from Farmington Bay, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-0622.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-0622.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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