{"id":62159,"date":"2019-12-20T05:50:32","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T12:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62159"},"modified":"2025-10-03T17:58:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T22:58:15","slug":"split-second-eye-contact-with-an-immature-northern-harrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/20\/split-second-eye-contact-with-an-immature-northern-harrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Split Second Eye Contact With An Immature Northern Harrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Northern Harrier in flight up close – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I enjoyed the scenic views that Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> offers and savored the quiet stillness that can be found there on winter mornings.<\/p>\n

It isn’t as birdy during the winter as it can be during spring and early summer but winter on the refuge has its own kind of appeal.<\/p>\n

I know that some people don’t like the word “magic” but if there isn’t magic in nature I really don’t know where there could be anything even close to it.<\/p>\n

I think life would be sad if there weren’t magic.<\/p>\n

For instance, this immature Northern Harrier was coursing over the marsh, bothering a pair of Northern Pintails and just generally looking for something, anything, that it could capture for breakfast.<\/p>\n

The young Northern Harrier made several unsuccessful dives towards what I assume was prey and I felt like cheering it on even though I am well aware that it would mean that another bird or animal would need to die so the harrier could live.<\/p>\n

The immature Harrier lifted off after a failed attempt to capture prey and flew almost directly towards me. In this photo I can’t tell what the harrier was looking at.<\/p>\n

\"EyeEye contact with an immature Northern Harrier – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Two frames later the immature Northern Harrier tilted its head, looked directly towards my lens, and seemed to eyeball me and my gear.<\/p>\n

I felt a brief connection between the young harrier and myself. I can’t say that the connection was strong or weak.<\/p>\n

I can’t say that the bird wasn’t just seeing its own reflection in the glass of my lens. All I can say is in that one moment that I felt an instant connection to this bird. That fleeting feeling has its own kind of magic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

*Typically I wouldn’t want to clip the wings of my subject as is seen in these two photos but in this case it was the eye contact I was focused on when composing these images and I cropped both images tighter than normal to draw more attention to the bird’s eyes.<\/em><\/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":"

Two frames later the immature Northern Harrier tilted its head, looked directly towards my lens, and seemed to eyeball me and my gear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,27,1148,348,26],"tags":[2663,765,8154,7755,4052,4122,2783,3164,4169,2386,4067,4094,8981,4006,153,4095,373],"class_list":["post-62159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-northern-harriers","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-connection","tag-eye-contact","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-marsh","tag-marsh-hawks","tag-northern-harrier","tag-raptors","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-immature-eye-contact-mia-mcpherson-6989.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gaz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/29\/young-female-northern-harrier-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":62159,"position":0},"title":"Young Female Northern Harrier In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I was able to photograph this young Northern Harrier flying over a marsh on a trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","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":"Young Northern Harrier flying over a marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-immature-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2210.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-immature-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2210.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 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2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing three photos of an immature female Northern Harrier that I took ten years ago at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature female Northern Harrier scanning the marsh while in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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, 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