{"id":16856,"date":"2014-11-12T05:14:22","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T12:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=16856"},"modified":"2025-10-03T08:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T13:04:05","slug":"juvenile-northern-harrier-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/12\/juvenile-northern-harrier-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Northern Harrier In Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Northern Harrier in flight – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or set up
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Northern Harriers are year round residents in Utah and I am encouraged by the numbers of them I have seen lately at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last winter at Farmington Bay I saw far fewer Northern Harriers than any year I have photographed there which in part may have been caused by a vole population crash the year before.<\/p>\n

Plus we had a very harsh winter then too which took a toll on the raptors and owls that make the marshes at Farmington Bay their home.<\/p>\n

The survival rate among young raptors is poor because only about 20% make it to their first year due to inexperience at hunting.<\/p>\n

They either need to learn to hunt and catch prey with consistency or they will die.<\/p>\n

I hope this juvenile Northern Harrier survives. They are fascinating to watch as they course over the marshes while hunting with their buoyant flight and quick dives into the vegetation when they locate prey.<\/p>\n

This juvenile Northern Harrier in flight in particular and another juvenile harrier had just dive-bombed a Rough-legged Hawk that was tucked into a tree. The Roughie wasn’t bothered much by them though and I captured this frame as the harriers flew away. I truly enjoy watching these birds.<\/p>\n

On another note, it might snow here tomorrow which excites me because I love photographing raptors in the winter!<\/p>\n

Life is 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":"

Northern Harriers are year round residents in Utah and I am encouraged by the numbers of them I have seen lately at Farmington Bay WMA. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159028,"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_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1022,697,348,26],"tags":[2663,765,4101,9102,4070,4052,4122,2783,3164,4494,4033,4169,4067,4071,767,610,4006,4063,4018,9101,9100,4193],"class_list":["post-16856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-harriers","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-clouds","tag-dive-bombed","tag-female","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-harsh-winter","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-marshes","tag-northern-harrier","tag-raptor","tag-sky","tag-survival-rate","tag-vole-population","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-8745.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4nS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13087,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/10\/a-resting-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":16856,"position":0},"title":"Resting Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Farmington Bay Waterfowl Area used to be my \"go to\" place for photographing Northern Harriers but this winter they are hard to find.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched Northern Harrier at Farmington Bay in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-harrier-perched-mia-mcpherson-0099.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-perched-mia-mcpherson-0099.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-harrier-perched-mia-mcpherson-0099.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43054,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/09\/juvenile-northern-harrier-female-in-flight-over-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":16856,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile Northern Harrier Female in Flight Over Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday at Farmington Bay I was pleased to photograph this juvenile Northern Harrier female in flight as she went past me while I sat in a mobile blind.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Northern Harrier female in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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It","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Eye color can be used to sex juvenile Northern Harriers, brown for juvenile females and yellowish for the males and this harrier is a definite brown-eyed beauty.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female juvenile Northern Harrier in flight over the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9087.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-female-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9087.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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