{"id":79268,"date":"2021-02-14T06:17:39","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T13:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=79268"},"modified":"2025-10-03T18:36:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T23:36:45","slug":"immature-male-northern-harrier-flying-over-a-wintry-marsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/14\/immature-male-northern-harrier-flying-over-a-wintry-marsh\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Male Northern Harrier Flying Over A Wintry Marsh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature male Northern Harrier flying over a wintry marsh \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This immature male Northern Harrier photo shows the hawk small in the frame with wintry marsh habitat behind and below it. The image was taken last February at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> on a relatively clear morning from the self-guided auto tour route.<\/p>\n

The Northern Harrier never closely approached me so there was never a chance of a frame filling image of this bird.<\/p>\n

I took a series of images of the young harrier flying over the marsh as he hunted for prey simply because I knew that with the bird small in the frame more of the marsh would be visible in my photos.<\/p>\n

As much as I enjoy having my avian subjects fill the frames I take I also appreciate the photos I create where the habitat in the image shows where the birds live.<\/p>\n

Even though the marsh, vegetation, ice, and snow are not in focus combined they convey a sense of place in this image plus the harriers “place” in the habitat.<\/p>\n

Personally, I love this view of this harrier doing what harriers do where they do it.<\/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":"

This immature male Northern Harrier photo shows the hawk small in the frame with wintry marsh habitat behind and below it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159207,"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":[2663,765,4052,4122,2783,3164,4033,4169,2386,4064,4067,4062,4094,4006,153,4043,4050,3996,373,5499,4193],"class_list":["post-79268","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-flight","tag-flying","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-ice","tag-immature","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-northern-harrier","tag-raptors","tag-small-in-frame","tag-snow","tag-water","tag-winter","tag-wintry","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-immature-male-flight-marsh-mia-mcpherson-8789.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-kCw","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":79268,"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 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-immature-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2210.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/northern-harrier-immature-female-flight-mia-mcpherson-2210.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119554,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/07\/northern-harrier-my-first-raptor-of-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":79268,"position":1},"title":"Northern Harrier – My First Raptor of 2024","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The first raptor I photographed in 2024 was this young male Northern Harrier that I found near the refuge auto tour loop at Bear River MBR on New Year's Day.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird 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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 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62159,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/20\/split-second-eye-contact-with-an-immature-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":79268,"position":3},"title":"Split Second Eye Contact With An Immature Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Two frames later the immature Northern Harrier tilted its head, looked directly towards my lens, and seemed to eyeball me and my gear.","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":"Eye contact with an immature Northern Harrier, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/northern-harrier-immature-eye-contact-mia-mcpherson-6989.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-immature-eye-contact-mia-mcpherson-6989.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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