Harrier with Coot

[David Salem]

Took this last night with my partner in crime, Glenn Conlan.


The Harriers in my area eat Coots almost exclusively. I often wondered how they could tackle a coot and kill it. They are not set up to kill something this big, they don't have the tomial tooth on their beak like a falcon.
This specialized tooth aids in dislocating the vertebrae of birds that the falcon catches and is only present in Falconidaes. Without this means of dispatching a large bird like a Coot the Harriers would have to eat the Coot alive ,which I don't think a Coot would stand for and it would fight back and possibly hurt the Harrier. I have taken many Coots with my falcons over the years and they can put up a good fight, even for a larger female falcon.

So how was it that every Harrier we saw was eating a Coot?

We finally figured it out last year and were fortunate enough to witness this hunting behavior multiple times.
The Harriers fly around the ponds looking for an unsuspecting Coot or a good size group. Then they hover over them and roll over and smash right in the water and grab one. At that point they hold it down with their feet and long legs and drown the Coot. This process takes quite a few minutes as a coot can hold it's breath for a long time. The Harrier just sits on the water like a duck waiting for the coot to die. The next part is the one that is ingenious. Once the coot is dead the Harrier flies off down wind to the nearest bank and sits and waits. The Coot floats, and in the breeze, it slowly sends the Coot her way as she stands on the bank patiently waiting. Nature at its best!!

Sorry for the long read but I though it was really neat and wanted to share it with you guys and gals. I also added a few shots of this behavior so you could see what I am talking about. Hope its ok.

1DX---840mm---f7.0---ss1/2500---ISO640---HH from truck@3:45pm---20% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[David Salem]

She has just grabbed one.

[David Salem]

Now she sits on the water and waits.

[Don Nelson]

Superb behavior series! Kudos.
I like the pose of the first image!

[Julie Brown]

Hi David. Killer image of the harrier standing over the coot. TFS the hunting behavior-very interesting. I never would have guessed that a raptor could sit on the water like that.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Top notch stuff, my friend. Wow! Absolutely stunning.
And thanks for sharing the behavior - great job documenting it!

[Karl Egressy]

Great write up and an excellent first image, David. The rest tells the story.
Pretty amazing!!!

[dankearl]

Wow….
Not sure about the Coot head angle, but this is so good…..
The Harrier pose is so cool and victorious, I don't know how to describe it any other way.
Geez, I was going to post a Scaup, thanks a lot!

[Grace Scalzo]

Crazy good photography David. This series just goes to show how valuable it is to be a keen observer and figure behavior out. You're making great use of the new gear.

[Enrique Patino]

Incredible image! ... and series.... and description. TFS

[Enrique Patino]

Oh, and the OP may need some CW rotation?!?

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments! I appreciate it.

Dan, not much I could do about the Coots HA but I'm happy we can even see it and the bill. Thanks.

Enrique, even though it looks like it is out of level because the Coot is on a little slope and is layed out on an angle, but I think the Harrier is level. You can see the DOF changing from the Coots feet to its head. Thanks for your input.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

David,

The image is stunning, nothing to change there. The story, though, is what takes it over the top for me! Killer.

Miguel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Outstanding image and story to go with it! Congrats.

[arash_hazeghi]

this is stunning Dave, excellent light and IQ. thanks for the detailed explanation and the supporting images.

The 1DX is doing it's job.

[Enrique Patino]

Enrique, even though it looks like it is out of level because the Coot is on a little slope and is layed out on an angle, but I think the Harrier is level. You can see the DOF changing from the Coots feet to its head. Thanks for your input.

That is what I thought... kind of threw me off... I try to look for the "in focus" line when shooting from such low angle to make sure the image is leveled... maybe you did a little cloning on the FG and made that harder... looking at it now... Looks good... and what a killer image

[Richard Flack]

Unbelievable photo David. Very inspiring. Well done!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, thanks for sharing the story, and what an incredible series of images showing just that.

Exquisite light and IQ in your OP, ( and the others too ) and good DOF on the overall image. The harrier seems proud of his accomplishment, and I do like the colours and detail on him. We have a good view of those large feet of the coot, unfortunately not going to run across water again. Very well captured.

[Raybel Robles]

Amazing photo! I would just add a little bit on canvas to the left to make the image a bit less square.


Stunning image!

[Declan Troy]

David, Good on you for the superb description and documentation of this behavior. Most interesting.
Declan

[Michael F Milligan]

All of the above! Great bit of info on the behaviour.

[Doug Brown]

Just a super frame with a great explanation of a behavior that I've never witnessed. The supporting photos add a lot to the thread. Thanks for sharing!

[adrian dancy]

You have nailed a cracker here. Great subject, pose , light colour and detail.

[keith mitchell]

David that makes very interesting reading never knew they killed there Coots in this way, your image is superb and far to good for me to look for any nits.

Keith.

[Daniel Cadieux]

David, that is a fantastic image...and the explanation behind the kill is well written and quite informative. Congrats man!

[MohsenVahedipour]

Wonderful capture David. Excellent light with great IQ & perfect shooting angle. TFS

[Satish Ranadive]

David,
Excellent scientific behavior information. Great series.Wonderful image.

Regards,
Satish.

[Holger Leyrer]

Stunning image David. I have need 10 Minutes to translate your text () but it was very interesting.
All is said to the image. For me it is perfect.

[gail bisson]

David,
The story and images here are simply wonderful.
I would encourage you to submit these to National Geographic or Cornell's bird magazine. It would make an interesting natural history story.
Gail

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for that info and shots to back it up. Original frame is superb. As already mentioned a bit of CW rotation may help

TFS

[David Salem]

Thanks very much for all the comments and input. I really appreciate it!

Gail, thanks for the info and on your thoughts of it making a good article. I might try submitting it. Thanks!

[BobbyPerkins]

Absolutely Stunning! Excellent behavior capture & story. That stance over the kill opening shot is just Killer. Thanks for sharing.

[Danny Laredo]

Once in a lifetime situation and you nailed it. Fantastic image!!