Northern Harrier in flight

There were plenty of Northern Harriers during my Better than Bosque Workshop this year. This image was made on the first day of the workshop while we were stopped and “focused” on hundreds of ducks landing in the ditch along the road.

Northern Harrier in flight (Circus hudsonius, busard Saint-Martin, NOHA) from the first day of my Better than Bosque workshop (Dec. 5, 2024) Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 6,400, f/8 @ 1/5,000s. Manual exposure.

Northern Harrier in flight

A Northern Harrier from my Best of Bosque workshop at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. A regular hunter over the corn and alfalfa fields, Northern Harriers are a pretty reliable raptor during my Best of Bosque workshop every December.

Northern Harrier in flightt (Circus hudsonius, busard Saint-Martin, NOHA) from my Better than Bosque workshop. Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio, New Mexico, USA. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony a1 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm ISO 2,000, f/8 @ 1/5,000s. Full frame image. Manual exposure.

Grey Ghost (Male Northern Harrier) in flight

A backlit Grey Ghost (male Northern Harrier) from a recent private workshop with a couple of wonderful clients (new friends, Dave & Christine) at the Lake Saint-François National Wildlife Area in Dundee, Quebec. The light got harsh quickly, and this Grey Ghost put on quite a show on the wrong side of the light, but I did pull off this keeper from the day :)

Northern Harrier GRAY GHOST (Circus hudsonius, busard Saint-Martin, NOHA) from a PRIVATE WORKSHOP at the Lake Saint-François National Wildlife Area (Réserve nationale de faune du Lac-Saint-François) in Dundee, Quebec, Canada ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Sony Alpha a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @ 1,200 mm. ISO 6,400, f/8 @ 1/5,000s Manual exposure. Cropped from Vertical.

Northern Harrier Gray Ghost

A Gray Ghost (Male Northern Harrier) allowed us to get quite close while approaching on foot, a testament to the respect that my participants showed this magnificent raptor while carefully and slowly moving toward it. Usually scarce and hard to photograph, there is an unusually high number of Male Harriers this winter!

Northern Harrier GRAY GHOST (Circus hudsonius, busard Saint-Martin, NOHA) from my WINTER OWL PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP in southern Ontario, Canada ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Sony Alpha a1 Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony FE 2X Teleconverter @1,200mm. ISO 10,000, f/8 @ 1/5,000s Manual exposure.

Northern Harrier

A beautiful male Northern Harrier backlit by the setting sun and colourful clearing clouds was the final treat after a cold afternoon with a dozen short-eared owls during one of my Winter Owl Photography Workshops last winter.

Also known as the marsh hawk or ring-tailed hawk. The male is bluish-gray above with white underparts, a distinctive coloration that earns it the nickname among birders of "Gray Ghost."

Northern Harrier vertical

Northern Harriers made daily appearances during my Best of Bosque workshops again this year. This one seemed to love hunting along the ditch line in front of us.

Northern Harrier

I was in love with the backgrounds over the Maximilian sunflowers during my Best of Bosque workshop: So much more artistic that the contrasty, ugly and distracting bush-honed corn fields of years past.

Northern Harrier in flight

Here is a female Northern Harrier from yesterday (day 4 of my Best of Bosque workshop). We have had some near-epic Northern Harrier encounters so far. My favourite is still the one I posted on Wednesday morning with the cottonwood trees in the background SEE IT HERE.

Unlike many raptors, hen or northern harriers have historically been favourably regarded by farmers because they eat mice that damage crops. Harriers are sometimes called "good hawks" because they pose no threat to poultry as some hawks do.

Northern Harrier in flight in nice light

My group had some pretty awesome views of Northern Harriers yesterday. This is a female against autumn Cottonwood tree foliage. Things are starting to dry out after the near record-breaking rain the other day. Bosque del Apache was photographically slow with many Cranes and Geese, but very far from the road. I took the group to another reserve that had just reopened after the rain made the roads too muddy to drive without getting stuck. I have such a great group that I am really excited things are getting back to normal.

Northern Harrier

A female Northern Harrier from my Best of Bosque workshop last December. Perhaps a somewhat unconventional composition with the bird higher in the frame than the middle; I could have added canvas or changed the aspect ratio, but I rather like the empty space below the bird in this frame.

Unusual among hawks, Northern Harriers use their sense of hearing to help locate prey. They have an owl-like facial disk to help with directional hearing and soft feathers for a quieter flight.