Watching The Northern Harriers At Prophetstown State Park

On Monday morning with the snow coming down I went down to Prophetstown State Park to see what I could see. My main goal was to watch the mute swans in the snow. On my way into the park though the northern harriers were putting on a show. I watched for a while although they were too far away to make any pictures of them. I went down to the pond to make my swan photos and then I was happy to leave with what I had. On my way out of the park three harriers were hunting again in the grass fields where I always hope they will hunt. They came fairly close to me even moving across the road to hunt on the other side. It was a fun show, and really cool to see in the snow. The photo above was my favorite photo from the encounter. It might be my widest photo, but I like the story that it tells.

Rolling The Dice

When it is snowing you rarely have good light to work with. I broke a few rules to make my flight photos on Monday. I was at around 1/320th to 1/400th of a second making these photos. At my focal length that is usually not recommended, but if you can pan with them you can make it work. It is a gamble, but when the subject is this cool I will always try and make the best photo that I can.

More In The Bokeh

One thing that I always like when making wildlife photos is having more of the subject in the background. Here a female flies in the foreground with a male in the background. They were really working this field looking for a meal, and they really didn’t seem to care that I was there. I did get a look here, but then the hunt continued. This was a fun way to start the week for sure. Mondays are always a day where I seem to struggle creatively. When you can make some photos you like right out of the gate who knows what the rest of the week will have in store?