Northern Harrier - Getting Close to Raptors

[Henry Domke]

This Harrier flew past me when I was taking songbird pictures this morning at the Prairie Garden Trust. I've seen this bird before so I'm hoping to figure out a way to get closer. However, I have no experience with raptor photography. Can anyone give suggestions on how to get close to them on this property? I would like them to fill the frame the way that Arash Hazeghi does.

The following birds nest at the Prairie Garden Trust: American Kestrel, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk (near my house last year!) and the Great Horned Owl. I've also seen Bald Eagles, Broad-winged Hawks and of course the Northern Harrier.

I've put two frames of the same bird together to show you what it looks like with the wings up and down. The birds were very small in the frame so the crop is severe.

Canon 1DX
600 II
f/11
1/1,600 sec
ISO 1,600
manual exposure
hand held
Processed with Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC

[Karl Egressy]

Having two in the frame is a real treat, Henry. The Prairie Garden sounds like a great place.
I have never been close to this species and we have very few around.

[David Salem]

Thats what I thought too Karl until I read the info. This has been stitched together as a composite.
Looks good Henry and I feel your pain.
Not easy in the best of situations to get frame filling shots of these guys or any raptors in general, although I think Harriers are probably the easiest. Because of their hunting behavior, they tend to look down allot as they fly around with a V winged pump and glide pattern that is very efficient, especially in the wind. They are the masters of the wind and windy days can be a good time to shoot Harriers as the wind slows them down to a crawl sometimes and makes for easier tracking.
This way of hunting makes them almost oblivious to a person standing in a field and if you dont move, they will fly within a few feet of you allot of times. This is where you will get your real keepers, especially if you position yourself with the sun at your back. Also they are very regular in my area and if you watch, they usually fly a big pattern in a field and will come by a location multiple times within a few hours.
Hope this helps.

[Henry Domke]

... they usually fly a big pattern in a field and will come by a location multiple times within a few hours. Hope this helps.
Yes, that does help! What I'm hearing is that the way you get good pictures of raptors is to be out in an area where they are known to occur and wait and hope they come close.
Is there a practical & ethical way to lure them in?
What about the sound of rabbit in distress or playing back one of their birds calls?
How useful is baiting them with live rodents?

For songbird photography many use sound, food and water to get those little guys closer. I was hoping that it might work on these bigger birds too.

[David Salem]

I think that baiting will work and I think it becomes a personal preference thing but Harriers are usually on the move so you would have to put something out in front of their flight path.
As for the distress calling, thats a good question and I know quite a few BPN members that have been out with me will laugh about, but I use my own squeeks and calls as the Harriers fly by to try to attract them.
They hunt by sound allot and their conical face helps direct sounds to the ear. I have only had it attract a bird a few times and most of the time Im doing it out of spite. I want to order a wounded rabbit call and see if it works better.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Henry, my experience with the Northern Harrier is very much what David has pointed out. My best encounter was standing on the edge of a freshly harvested field of Soybeans and three Northern Harriers were flying a large circular pattern quite low, at points within 15 feet of me with no fear of my presence.

Very nice composite and captures.

Geoffrey

[gail bisson]

Hi Henry,
Agree 100% with the above.
Bottom line is to spend a lot of time in the field observing.
We have a pair of Harriers at out local beach/wetlands area and I spend a lot of time there shooting shorebirds. I started watching the harrier and noticed that every am he flew clockwise around the field and marsh and beach and in the evening around 4:30PM he would do the same route in a CCW direction. I positioned myself with the sun to my back and waited and waited along his"route". I was able to get a couple of close shots this way.
The harrier was completely unperturbed by my presence in the field.
I have never tried calling or baiting so cannot advise on this.
Gail

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Hey Henry,

I don't have much information to add here, but it looks like you were shooting with a bare 600. If you notice that some of Arash's images have a 2.0x for some of the birds of prey. I've seen that the 1dx and 600 handle it well. That, combined with the info above might help you out quite a bit.

On a side note, I know that Alan Murphy's book on attracting birds has some good information on bringing in birds of prey. He relies heavily on camouflage and uses a fake owl to lure them closer. Not sure if that would work on the harrier.

Miguel

[Henry Domke]

I started watching the harrier and noticed that every am he flew clockwise around the field and marsh and beach and in the evening around 4:30PM he would do the same route in a CCW direction.
Thanks for the suggestion. I went back today around the same time and sure enough the bird was there again! It immediately flew to a nearby snag, perched for a few seconds and then flew off. Even following Miguel's excellent suggestion to put my 2X TC on the lens would not have gotten me close enough.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Well, I look forward to seeing what you come back with on future trips!

If he's not close enough with the 600 and 2x, then it's probably not worth taking a picture. But then when you get the shot, it will be that much better!

[Henry Domke]

Well, I look forward to seeing what you come back with on future trips!
So far I haven't gotten a decent picture. I've gone back every day for 9-days and the bird is always there. But once I get within it's comfort zone it flies away from me and all I get to see is a rump shot like this picture from this morning.

Any suggestions on how to get closer? They have such good vision that I doubt that I can trick them with camouflage.
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