Female Northern Harrier in habitat

[arash_hazeghi]

This is a female harrier (adult) taken in Palo Alto Baylands. Harriers fly very close to the ground while scouting the boundaries of their territory for food as well as occasional intruders. They constantly scan the ground refusing even a hint of eye contact, and with feathers that have evolved to match the habitat for maximum stealth hunting, they are tough subjects to photograph against a non-sky BG. I hope you like this one, I has to spend some time before I could get this

110773

1D4 700mm f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 1250

see larger size here (http://ari1982.smugmug.com/Avian/Raptors/Northern-Harrier/14822282_GkGPdC#!i=1765214101&k=5j7gZdt&lb=1&s=O)

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image with great composition and bg complimenting with Harrier colors.Beautiful angle of wings and head.Love the pose ,details on bird and lights.

[Ofer Levy]

Stunning image! Very nice 3D effect!

[christopher galeski]

very nice image,good detail in the bird,tad warm on the rump,I realise the angle of the sun,but a still a great image.thanks.

[Melissa Groo]

Stunning, Arash. Love how the harrier is angled towards you, the tops IQ and sharpness, and how the wings are lit along the rims. I know how tough these are to get, I've spent many an hour in pursuit myself.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice banking pose, excellent detail and sharpness against complimenting background, Arash.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Arash, Great 3D effect here, and I do like how the harrier is separated from the grassland BG. Overall, tack sharp, with good colours and detail. Well captured.

[Sachin Saraf]

Fantastic capture Arash...beautiful light and that larger version is superb.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice image,good detail in the bird,tad warm on the rump,I realise the angle of the sun,but a still a great image.thanks.


Thanks Chris, I checked the rump, it looks and reads good on my screen.

Thanks everyone for nice comments

[D. Robert Franz]

Nice work impressive AF with the BG as it is... Well done

[dankearl]

Great angle to get, Arash, the most beautiful raptor for me.
I always like the habitat they are in, but they are tough to get,
very nice.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Arash I can appreciate how difficult it is to get a shot like this against that background - congrats, super exposure and detail. The slight head turn and crystal clear eye make this a great image.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely image Arash. Larger version looks great. I really like the nice eye contact and slight banking pose to get the under wing detail. Colors of hawk and habitat look perfect.

[gail bisson]

Very nice Arash. Good look at the underwing and face. It is soooo hard to get AF with the similar BG colors- well done,
Gail

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Arash, nice BG separation, angle and underwing details. Lots of room to fly into and excellent eye contact. Well done. yes, a tough one.

[Don Lacy]

Superb Image the Harrier is beautiful against that BG.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice image of a great bird that I hope to see someday!
Love the 3D effect mentioned by Ofer. The light is also great as is the eye contact. I've been, with no good luck, trying to get a bird in flight with no good results so far. I guess the lack of light is the reason for my problems...:(

[Christian Neumann]

I took some time to look at this beautiful image. For me, it's just perfect. I love the color of both, the bird and the background, sharpness and detail.
Congratulations!

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone for nice comments, appreciate it