Up for some eye-catching shots of raptors like harriers and Kestrels?
I recently spent a day in a grassland - away from the main roads and very vast. I was amazed that I could see so many raptors in one day. Further, I could actually see them gliding right in front of my eyes and got some amazing flight shots..
Harriers are winter migrants in my location. These graceful birds seem like a store of energy.. They glide day long, flapping and gliding with swoops, a few feet above ground. They float around fields and grasslands for the whole day - rarely sitting down.
They look for prey like grasshoppers and small bugs and sometimes even lizards etc.
It is not easy to get a nice flight shot though because they are always moving away whenever they spot humans.
It is even more difficult to get shots of them sitting down because they come to ground to roost only late in the evening when the light fades.
Since @nelinoeva announced the theme of the contest as free theme this week, I thought of sharing some of these nice Harrier clicks I have..
Montague's Harrier male
Fondly referred to by my friends as the 'Grey Ghost' this is a harrier that prefers roosting in the grass I had to lie down under my car to be able to get this shot.
The grey ghost
My own click
Montagu's Harrier female
This lady had an attitude and seemed to say 'My ground my rules' as she defiantly started me down as I crawled towards her for a close up shot... Just look at those eyes!
Feisty lady..
My own click
Pallid Harrier male
With a white upper body, this harrier is a bit rarer and looks like a Knight on a white horse as it glides around in twilight. I caught it looking over the shoulder as it settled in a field...
The White knight...
My own click
However, my favorite shot of a harrier, and my entry for SMAP 96 is the shot below. It is very precious for me because I got it after almost an hour of following it around, waiting for it to sit down and also because of the beautiful setting in which I got it...
My entry for SMAP 96
Of course - another equally favorite picture is the one which I used in the blog title collage. It is one of the best flight shots of a harrier that I have clicked. Here it is in it's full format..
Flight !
My own click
Hope you all enjoyed seeing these lovely harriers.
What do you think? Did you like the pics? Please feel free to share your comments and opinions.
A big thank you for support
Thanks to c/hive-106444 (Feathered friends community) for providing this wonderful opportunity to present my experience and photographs. Thanks to @barbara-orenya and @melinda010100 for all the support and encouragement to this community. Special thanks to @nelinoeva also for starting the Species hunt initiative. My posts are not exactly in that format but have all the necessary info and Good original Photos. Further guidance will be very much welcome.
Thanks to HIVE for this wonderful platform. Thanks also to @adalger and @dna.org for encouraging me by recognizing some of my posts as worthy of Densifying nature project.
Further, thanks to Amazing nature community for welcoming me and showing me their love on some of my posts.
Note: All images and collages in this blog are created by me, based on photos clicked by me personally and/or free vector images from Pixabay. Any other sources, if used, are indicated as image credits below the picture.
Quotes used, if not credited, are either from unknown authors or are proverbial old sayings.
Incredible photographs! And the birds are gorgeous 💙
Thank you so much for appreciating the birds and photography
My pleasure 😉
So many harriers! As usual... these are awesome! Cheers! !BEER
@pardinus Yes - it was really exciting to see so many of them in the grasslands this season. Thanks for your kind encouragement as always
These are such fantastic shots, @vm2904. It takes good equipment and an incredible amount of time and patience to capture shots like this. Your contest entry shot truly is the best of the bunch with the bird in that majestic stance and the golden background of the grassland. Good luck!
@jayna Thank you so much. It did take a lot of time as you said. Also - you are right - it takes a fast telephoto lens. I use a 200-500 Nikkor. It is a great lens for wildlife photography.
Simply gorgeous! They are amazing birds.
Thank you so much
Gorgeous birds man.
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Such a pleasure to see these beautiful harriers. Recently I watched Marsh harrier gliding above the field not very high. It was a spectacular view.
Your photos, as always are stunning. Brilliant!
Superb photography captures, as mentioned not often sitting on the ground, fast above something I zone in on often yet seldom obtain great results like this.
!BEER
Dear @vm2904,
Your support for the current HiveSQL proposal (#138) is much appreciated but the proposal will expire soon!
May I ask you to review and support the new proposal so HiveSQL can stay free to use for the community?
You can support the new proposal (#247) on Peakd, Ecency,
Thank you!
@arcange Done. Supported the proposal. Please keep up the good work!👍
Thank you for your support @vm2904, really appreciate it! 👍
Sure. Will do. Am traveling at the moment. Will do ASAP when I get a chance in next 3 days.