{"id":13087,"date":"2014-01-10T05:54:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T11:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=13087"},"modified":"2024-09-07T14:30:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T19:30:17","slug":"a-resting-northern-harrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/10\/a-resting-northern-harrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Resting Northern Harrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PerchedPerched Northern Harrier – Nikon D200, f5.6, 1\/640, ISO 400, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This is my fifth winter in Utah and for me it has been the most frustrating\u00a0for photographing birds, specifically raptors. I mentioned yesterday on my American Kestrel<\/a> post that I wasn’t seeing or photographing as many kestrels the past two winters as I had the years before.<\/p>\n

There also seem to be fewer Northern Harriers in areas that there were abundant harriers before. Farmington Bay WMA used to be my “go to” place for photographing Northern Harriers but this winter they are hard to find.<\/p>\n

It might be caused by the crash of the vole population last year or how a few weeks ago we had ice then snow on top of it that crushed the phragmites under the weight which might be causing the harriers and other raptors difficulty in locating their prey. The harriers may be hunting farther out in the marshes than they used to, I can’t be sure.<\/p>\n

I just know that I am seeing far fewer Northern Harriers at Farmington Bay and on Antelope Island.<\/p>\n

I photographed this immature male Northern Harrier in January of 2010 as it rested on a post at Farmington Bay.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Farmington Bay Waterfowl Area used to be my “go to” place for photographing Northern Harriers but this winter they are hard to find. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,697,348,26],"tags":[765,9098,2783,3164,4169,2386,4067,4071,4062,767,610,4006,4104,4394,4106,153,4156,4095,373,8917],"class_list":["post-13087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-harriers","category-utah","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-fewer","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-male","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-marshes","tag-northern-harrier","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-resting","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-harrier-perched-mia-mcpherson-0099.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-3p5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17811,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/16\/eye-level-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":13087,"position":0},"title":"Eye Level Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I love to photograph birds in flight and it doesn't matter which species it is. But I do thoroughly enjoy photographing raptors like this Northern Harrier as they fly by.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eye level Northern Harrier, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-eye-level-mia-mcpherson-5033.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-eye-level-mia-mcpherson-5033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-eye-level-mia-mcpherson-5033.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched Harrier, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-winter-mia-mcpherson-4187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-winter-mia-mcpherson-4187.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-winter-mia-mcpherson-4187.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-winter-mia-mcpherson-4187.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-immature-female-winter-mia-mcpherson-9180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-immature-female-winter-mia-mcpherson-9180.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-immature-female-winter-mia-mcpherson-9180.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-immature-female-winter-mia-mcpherson-9180.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1454,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2010\/11\/24\/northern-harrier-gray-ghost\/","url_meta":{"origin":13087,"position":4},"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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