Stunning photos and insight into the “owl hawk”
From Dan Jordan,
Have you heard? Bird is the word! Of course, this is a reference to the lyrics of a song from 1963 called Surfin’ Bird, by the Trashmen. Peter Griffin from Family Guy (Season 7) probably made the lyric more famous than the original with his quirky repetitive rendition of the “Bird, Bird, Bird, Bird is the Word” lyric. Anyways, in this series of articles, Bird [really is] the Word!
I have become a wildlife photographer in my retirement years. I travel extensively to find wildlife, but most of my encounters and the resulting images are from right here in our local area.
In the Fourth installment of this series, published last week, I shared images and stories of American kestrels, a fairly common falcon, but one not recognized by lots of people. This week, I am sharing images of another raptor, less common to this area; another species that most people won’t recognize. I hope that this article helps people spot and appreciate this raptor.
The subject of this article is the Northern Harrier. This member of the hawk family is also called the ‘Owl-Hawk’ by some due to its face looking somewhat like an owl and its ability to hear its prey like owls are proficient at doing.
This first image is of a female harrier hunting for mice and voles by flying low over a field in Ontario County.
Northern harriers are long-tailed hawks with owl-like faces. They can be easily recognized while in flight by the white patch on their rumps. They fly low and slow over pastures and fields in search of small mammals.
Each of the above images were captured in Ontario County. Interestingly, you can often find northern harriers at the same locations as short-eared owls. They compete for the same prey, so there can be confrontations and battles, but usually, they simply share the areas peacefully.
The next image was captured in Livingston County, of a female harrier perched in the grass just last week. You can see the owl-like feature of her face clearly in this image.
Juvenile male harriers have the brown plumage similar to females. Their eye color is the best way to differentiate a juvenile male from a female. As the males age into adulthood, their plumage becomes grey and white. They are called ‘Grey Ghosts’ by many. I personally had never seen an adult male until last week.
While on an owl-outing (never saw an owl that day), I spotted a Grey Ghost far off in a field in Livingston County. Thankfully the harrier eventually flew closer to me, giving me a good look and photo op. The following two images are my first ever images of a Grey Ghost. It made for a very memorable experience, even if the owls didn’t cooperate.
The last image quickly rose toward the top of my list of favorite wildlife images. And now I can honestly say that I’ve seen a ghost, even though I don’t ‘believe in ghosts’.
I plan to submit more in this series of anecdotes about my local wildlife encounters in the future. If you have any questions or comments for me, or even suggestions, I can be reached at dan@jordanphotog.com. Thank you for your interest in my work.
