{"id":75065,"date":"2020-11-03T05:25:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T12:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=75065"},"modified":"2025-09-09T07:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:22:55","slug":"adult-female-northern-harrier-on-the-wing-over-farmington-bay-wma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/03\/adult-female-northern-harrier-on-the-wing-over-farmington-bay-wma\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Female Northern Harrier On The Wing Over Farmington Bay WMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult female Northern Harrier on the wing \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/6400, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

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. The past few summers I have spent most of my time high in the mountains and although I see harriers up that high I don’t seem them as frequently there as I do down in the valleys near marshes. They are called “Marsh Hawks” for a reason.<\/p>\n

Just one day shy of one year ago I found an adult female Northern Harrier in my viewfinder as she flew over the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a> in a clear blue sky. She was looking for prey while on the wing.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult female Northern Harrier fly by over the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/6400, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

When the female Northern Harrier turned in flight she gave me a nice view of the underside of her body and wings. I didn’t have her in sight for long because I was only able to take ten images of her.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen a few harriers this fall at Farmington Bay WMA and at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but so far I haven’t been able to take high quality photos of them. Time will tell whether this will be a good season for photographing these harriers or not.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1022,697,348,26],"tags":[4004,2663,765,4070,4052,8983,4122,2783,3164,4169,2386,4094,8981,4006,6384,153,4018],"class_list":["post-75065","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-birds-of-prey","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-female","tag-flight","tag-fly-by","tag-flying","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-marsh","tag-marsh-hawks","tag-northern-harrier","tag-on-the-wing","tag-raptors","tag-sky"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/northern-harrier-female-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-8570.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jwJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":75615,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/01\/frosty-female-northern-harrier-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":75065,"position":0},"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 "Birds"","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, 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-immature-female-winter-mia-mcpherson-9180.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-hatch-year-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2819.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-hatch-year-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2819.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-hatch-year-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2819.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/northern-harrier-hatch-year-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2819.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17317,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/12\/12\/immature-northern-harrier-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":75065,"position":3},"title":"Immature Northern Harrier On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So I missed out on seeing the Northern Harriers, Bald Eagles and American Kestrels at Farmington Bay WMA this morning but decided to post an older image of an immature Northern Harrier on the wing.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Northern Harrier on the wing, in flight at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-9143.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-flight-mia-mcpherson-9143.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-9143.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/northern-harrier-flight-mia-mcpherson-9143.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":76758,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/29\/young-female-northern-harrier-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":75065,"position":4},"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 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75942,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/09\/focusing-on-a-gray-ghost-aka-male-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":75065,"position":5},"title":"Focusing On A Gray Ghost – AKA Male Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am focusing on an adult male Northern Harrier that I had in my viewfinder for a few seconds yesterday that was on the wing over the marsh.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Northern Harrier in flight in a hazy sky, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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