A Bosque Gray Ghost

[Doug Brown]

I was photographing next to Artie at the Bosque a couple of weeks ago when he casually mentioned that a Gray Ghost was flying past us. The male Northern Harrier has been one of my nemesis birds for a long time, as quality encounters with them are few and far between. I raised my camera and fired away. This was one of my better frames from the brief encounter. A non-sky BG would have been nice, but you take what you get with this bird!



Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm, f/7.1, 1/2500, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held

[Arno Ellmer]

Opportunity extremely well taken,Doug !
I love the wing position and the perfect HA ,with a fierce eye .The blue sky bg is a small price to pay .

[Grace Scalzo]

He's a beauty as is your image. I like the blue sky.

[Stu Bowie]

Doug, well placed in the frame, with a good flight posture and HA. The yellow eye stands out really well against the darker plumage, and whose complaining about the sky BG.

" I raised my camera and fired away " You amaze me how you can 'just raise' that 600mm and fire away. Great work. Cheers.

[Mital Patel]

absolutely gorgeous image Doug. i know this situations as i always face it due to disturbance at my regular place of picnicers and so birds keep long distance :)

marvelous lighting you have got here.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, you nailed this one. good call on the f-stop. DOF is perfect.

[Ian Cassell]

Very nice, Doug! You nailed it! I got a male while I was there, but it was small in the field-of-view and the HA was all wrong!

[Karl Egressy]

Great bird to have and an excellent flight shot of it, Doug.

[Doug Brown]

Very nice, Doug! You nailed it! I got a male while I was there, but it was small in the field-of-view and the HA was all wrong!

I know the feeling Ian. I know the feeling!

[Dan Busby]

Doesn't get much better than this Doug. Great wing position, exposure, detail and fantastic eye. Hardly notice the blue sky.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent pose and details, I would take a gray ghost shot any day against any BG.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great wing position and BG and I have no issue with the BG

[adrian dancy]

Looks pretty good to me! Good detail and wing position.

Your maxim 'you take what you get with this bird' made me chuckle a little...it applies to all birds in Salford/Manchester England

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent shot Doug, I like the pose and the exposure/details, and there isn't a whole lot wrong with the background for my taste.

[Wynand van Wyk]

A stunning in flight capture! Love the detail and exposure under the wings. Perfect!

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the comments everyone!