{"id":20298,"date":"2015-02-20T05:52:48","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T12:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=20298"},"modified":"2026-02-02T07:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:25:07","slug":"northern-harriers-on-the-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/02\/20\/northern-harriers-on-the-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Harriers On The Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether they are male, female or juveniles Northern Harriers are great fun to photograph on the wing.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Northern Harrier with the Wasatch Range in the background – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This winter; if you can call it that, hasn’t been the best for raptor photography in my experience, in fact I would call it dismal. I probably would have gotten more raptor images if I still lived in Florida actually.<\/p>\n

As I work on getting my new photo galleries set up I keep coming across images I have taken of raptors and other birds in “normal” winter conditions. Today I’d like to share a few Northern Harriers on the wing that were taken a few years ago.<\/p>\n

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. This male harrier who has the Wasatch Range behind him that was taken at Farmington Bay WMA in January of 2010. That was a snowy winter!<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Harrier pano – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 250, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I also like to show birds with plenty of habitat around them because habitat is important to every species including humans. Healthy habitat, healthy population. Not sure why “the powers that be” can’t see that and want to pollute natural areas and destroy habitat. But I digress.<\/p>\n

Northern Harriers are known for their owl-like facial discs but there are times that I think they can look almost cat-like too as shown in this image taken in December of 2009. That was my first full winter in Utah.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Harrier and a frosty marsh habitat – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

They glide, course, twist, soar, dive and hover over their prey. It can be a challenge to track them with a lens because you never know when they are going to turn.<\/p>\n

Looking at the Northern Harrier<\/span><\/a> image above with snow on the ground and frost on the vegetation almost makes me wish for a little more snow this year. But I have already begun to long for spring, camping and immersing myself in nature for several days at a time with star-filled nights hopefully in locations where I can photograph more Northern Harriers.<\/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":"

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134160,"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":[1022,697,348,26],"tags":[4021,2663,9103,4052,4122,6291,683,2783,3164,4033,2386,4094,767,9105,4006,9104,4050,6323,373],"class_list":["post-20298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-harriers","category-utah","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-facial-discs","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gray-ghosts","tag-habitat-2","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawk","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-marsh","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-marshy","tag-northern-harrier","tag-owl-like","tag-snow","tag-wasatch-range","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-0622.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-5ho","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6782,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/13\/female-northern-harrier-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":20298,"position":0},"title":"Female Northern Harrier in flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Typically I see far more Northern Harriers in the winter here in Utah than I do during the breeding season which might be partly due to the harriers preferring to nest within marshy wetland areas which are in abundance around the Great Salt Lake.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Northern Harrier in flight over the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-female-mia-mcpherson-1446.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-female-mia-mcpherson-1446.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-female-mia-mcpherson-1446.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-female-mia-mcpherson-1446.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11860,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/14\/a-juvenile-female-northern-harrier-the-eyes-have-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":20298,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile Female Northern Harrier – The Eyes Have 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9087.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9087.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13087,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/10\/a-resting-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":20298,"position":2},"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":16030,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/03\/northern-harriers-and-ground-hunting\/","url_meta":{"origin":20298,"position":3},"title":"Northern Harriers And “Ground Hunting”","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Whatever the reason for this behavior I know that I enjoy photographing Northern Harriers while they are ground hunting in a winter wonderland.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Harrier \"ground hunting\", Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/northern-harrier-ground-hunting-mia-mcpherson-4551.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/northern-harrier-ground-hunting-mia-mcpherson-4551.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/northern-harrier-ground-hunting-mia-mcpherson-4551.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/northern-harrier-ground-hunting-mia-mcpherson-4551.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2290,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/05\/07\/nesting-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":20298,"position":4},"title":"Nesting Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Tt was the first time that I have ever seen a Northern Harrier building a nest. It more than made my day!","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Northern Harrier slowing down above the nest, Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-nesting-material-landing-mia-mcpherson-2112.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-nesting-material-landing-mia-mcpherson-2112.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-nesting-material-landing-mia-mcpherson-2112.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-nesting-material-landing-mia-mcpherson-2112.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/06\/eye-level-with-a-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":20298,"position":5},"title":"Eye Level With A Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I have been a bird photographer for some time now I still get a thrill when I am eye level with a bird of prey because it feels as if I am more strongly connected to the raptor when they fly in close at eye level.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eye level with a Northern Harrier at Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-eye-level-mia-mcpherson-5921.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-5921.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-5921.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-eye-level-mia-mcpherson-5921.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}