{"id":65974,"date":"2020-03-02T05:22:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T12:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=65974"},"modified":"2025-07-19T05:18:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T10:18:18","slug":"female-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-the-flats-at-farmington-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/03\/02\/female-northern-harrier-in-flight-over-the-flats-at-farmington-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Northern Harrier In Flight Over The Flats At Farmington Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-150484 size-full\" title=\"Adult female Northern Harrier in flight over the flats at Farmington Bay, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137.jpg\" alt=\"Adult female Northern Harrier in flight over the flats at Farmington Bay, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult female Northern Harrier in flight over the flats at Farmington Bay &#8211; Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Last week I had a few opportunities to photograph Norther Harriers in flight at Farmington Bay WMA before the gate south of Goose Egg Island was closed for the waterfowl nesting season and I&#8217;m glad I had those chances.<\/p>\n<p>At first I didn&#8217;t care for this photo too much but that is because of the background. I grow weary of browns, tans and bleached out beige colors after the fall and winter and ache for brighter or perhaps more &#8220;lively&#8221; colors.<\/p>\n<p>The background of this photo is created by distant mud flats at the WMA that are devoid of vegetation at this time of the year. Now, if there had been snow or green spring growth covering those mud flats I would have been much happier with the background but that is just me and my personal tastes.<\/p>\n<p>The adult female Northern Harrier was in flight in wonderful, warm morning light and I couldn&#8217;t resist raising my lens and taking photos of her as she flew past. She sure did look gorgeous as she floated on the breeze past me.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/northern-harrier-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Northern Harrier photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The adult female Northern Harrier was in flight in wonderful, warm morning light and I couldn&#8217;t resist raising my lens and taking photos of her as she flew past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150484,"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":[4004,765,4070,5672,4052,4122,4254,2783,3164,2386,4359,767,4099,2339,4006],"class_list":["post-65974","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-circus-hudsonius","tag-female","tag-flats","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-golden-light","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-hen","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-morning-light","tag-mud-flats","tag-northern-harrier"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/northern-harrier-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-3137.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ha6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/23\/northern-harrier-in-flight-over-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":65974,"position":0},"title":"Northern Harrier in Flight over Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a little bit of time yesterday morning photographing a few birds including this Northern Harrier in flight over Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a female Northern Harrier in flight over open water at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-6885.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-flight-mia-mcpherson-6885.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-6885.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-6885.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97519,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/23\/adult-female-northern-harrier-lifting-off-from-a-tumbleweed\/","url_meta":{"origin":65974,"position":1},"title":"Adult Female Northern Harrier Lifting Off From A Tumbleweed","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When I spotted this adult female Northern Harrier resting on a tumbleweed yesterday morning it took a few moments for me to point her out.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Northern Harrier starting to lift off from a tumbleweed, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-harrier-female-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-5776.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-harrier-female-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-5776.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-harrier-female-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-5776.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/northern-harrier-female-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-5776.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11765,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/11\/female-northern-harrier-in-flight-at-farmington-bay-waterfowl-management-area\/","url_meta":{"origin":65974,"position":2},"title":"Female Northern Harrier in flight at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was photographing some ducks and grebes yesterday I spotted this female Northern Harrier in flight coming in from the south and when she flew over the water I was able to get a series of images of her against the sky.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Northern Harrier in flight over a creek, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-mia-mcpherson-7037.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-mia-mcpherson-7037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-mia-mcpherson-7037.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-mia-mcpherson-7037.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75065,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/03\/adult-female-northern-harrier-on-the-wing-over-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":65974,"position":3},"title":"Adult Female Northern Harrier On The Wing Over Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been too long since I have had a Northern Harrier in my viewfinder although I'm now excited because I know that fall and winter are great seasons for me to find and photograph them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult female Northern Harrier on the wing, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-harrier-female-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8570.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-harrier-female-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8570.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-harrier-female-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8570.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-harrier-female-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8570.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43054,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/09\/juvenile-northern-harrier-female-in-flight-over-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":65974,"position":4},"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-juvenile-female-mia-mcpherson-2650.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-juvenile-female-mia-mcpherson-2650.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-juvenile-female-mia-mcpherson-2650.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-juvenile-female-mia-mcpherson-2650.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75615,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/01\/frosty-female-northern-harrier-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":65974,"position":5},"title":"Frosty Female Northern Harrier In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw a few harriers on the wing yesterday at Farmington Bay WMA and I was able to take a few photos of a female Northern Harrier that still had frost on her nape.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Frosty adult female Northern Harrier in flight, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-frosty-flight-mia-mcpherson-6693.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-frosty-flight-mia-mcpherson-6693.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-frosty-flight-mia-mcpherson-6693.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-female-frosty-flight-mia-mcpherson-6693.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\/65974","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=65974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}