{"id":63987,"date":"2020-02-11T06:04:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T13:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=63987"},"modified":"2025-10-03T18:09:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T23:09:26","slug":"northern-harriers-blending-into-their-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/11\/northern-harriers-blending-into-their-habitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Harriers Blending Into Their Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NearlyNearly concealed female Northern Harrier \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

As a bird photographer I actively strive to photograph my subjects out in the open and without any distracting elements in the fore and background most of the time but I also enjoy taking images of birds that are nearly hidden, partially concealed or that blend into their habitat so well as to be nicely camouflaged.<\/p>\n

Why? First, because I can and second because it shows the birds in habitat and how well their sometimes cryptic plumage can be used to their advantage.<\/p>\n

For instance, camouflaged nesting birds that blend into their habitat are less likely to succumb to predators while they are incubating. Third, some rules are meant to be broken.<\/p>\n

I am blessed with terrific long distance vision and quite often I can spot birds with ease that people with less visual acuity have trouble seeing.<\/p>\n

If you have ever seen me with my glasses on I feel I should mention that the top part of my progressive lenses are basically clear. I only have trouble seeing things up close since I have advanced in age.<\/p>\n

I wear progressive glasses because I can’t stand taking readers off and putting them back on all day long. However, when I am in the field I take my regular glasses off and use readers so I can see the LCD screen on my camera.<\/p>\n

I never thought I’d be that woman with eye glasses hung around my neck but here I am, doing just that. My regular glasses just get in the way in the field so they get tucked into their case in my camera backpack.<\/p>\n

Yesterday when I spotted a well concealed, female Northern Harrier who blended into her marshy habitat I knew I wanted to photograph her.<\/p>\n

She was surrounded by vegetation but stood out very well to my eyes.<\/p>\n

The hen harrier has frost on the back of her head which indicates she may have spent the night tucked into this location.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Northern Harrier hiding in the marsh \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After getting back home and realizing how much I enjoyed viewing the images of the nearly concealed female Northern Harrier I remembered that I took a similar image of an immature harrier in practically the same location in January of 2019.<\/p>\n

I had processed the photo the day I took it and tucked it into a folder I use to save images that I might want to use in a future blog post or that I want to place in my photo galleries.<\/p>\n

The immature Northern Harrier is a bit more concealed than the female in the photo above because of the vegetation in front of it but for me I still think of this as a hidden treasure because of how well it blends into its habitat.<\/p>\n

This female Northern Harrier and the immature harrier in the other photo are a classic examples of what I like to call a hidden treasure type of image.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

For me this female Northern Harrier and the immature harrier in the other photo are a classic examples of what I like to call a hidden treasure type of image.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159192,"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":[27,1022,697,348,26],"tags":[4004,8628,8085,765,8627,4070,683,2783,3164,4033,4169,2386,388,4067,4094,767,4006,153,6917,4193],"class_list":["post-63987","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-adult","tag-blending-in","tag-camouflaged","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-concealed","tag-female","tag-habitat-2","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-hidden","tag-immature","tag-marsh","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-northern-harrier","tag-raptors","tag-vegetation","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-hidden-mis-mcpherson-8608.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gE3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118923,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/12\/immature-female-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":63987,"position":0},"title":"Immature Female Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 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, 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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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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Harrier hovering while on the hunt, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-hovering-mia-mcpherson-3217.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-hovering-mia-mcpherson-3217.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-hovering-mia-mcpherson-3217.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-hovering-mia-mcpherson-3217.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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