Gasp!

I was shooting a Northern Harrior flying low over the prairie until it was too far away, and so I was about to move on...I put the car in gear and started rolling, when something caught my eye just a few yards away, perching on a snag, very low in the tall grass. What the ????



In the first few seconds of thought, I wished it to be a burrowing owl. Oh man, would that have been a dream...

I studied it and studied it, and determined it to be a harrier. The facial disks threw me...Now, I am still excited mind you, but slightly let down. Finding the male harrier roosting is indeed a rare find, but a burrowing owl would have made me pee my pants, seriously! Anyway...




He stayed for quite a long time, looking right...




looking left...



until he decided to flush...



which made for more exciting photos...




There is quite a difference between the male and the female...



The male is plenty paler...



than the female I found flying over , displayed above.



Here are some cool facts:

A long-winged, long-tailed hawk of open grassland and marshes, the Northern Harrier forages by flying slowly low above the ground looking for small rodents. It is one of the few raptors in which the sexes look quite different: the male is white below with a light gray back and hood, the female is mottled in browns.

Most male Northern Harriers are mated to one or two females at the same time. Some males pair with up to five mates in a season.

Unlike other hawks, the Northern Harrier relies on its hearing as well as its vision to capture prey. The feathers of the face are stiff to help transmit sound, and it shows a pronounced "facial disk," much like that of an owl.

The Northern Harrier feeds primarily on mice, other small mammals, and small birds. It will, however, take larger prey, such as rabbits and ducks. It has been known to subdue large prey by drowning it.

Source: All About Birds