Northern Harrier.

Sugar Land, TX November 13, 2011

D3 ISO 500. 300/2.8 with 2x tc. f5.6 1/2500s. +0.3 ev. Hand held.

Same harrier, last time pictured on perch.

I found a "spot" about 3 days ago. 2 harriers, a kestril, a shrike and some local birds are there. It is a small cleared patch inside of a large tract (several acres of reserve land in our local park on the Brazos River-ok to be there, just not to cut it down!) that has 5-6 foot reeds. The reeds can be seen in the portrait. I started snooping around after I kept watching them disappear into a proximate area repeatedly.

Today I took my foldable 3 legged chair, got into my camo and sat in the edge of the reeds next to a taller shrub. I was there for about 2 hours. Temp was about 65 and skies varied from partly cloudy to menacing at times. The harriers flew by on many occasions. Sometimes I just watched. Sometimes I imaged. They never seemed to mind my presence, although they made eye contact, so definitely knew I was there and continued to sail along leisurely at a low altitude. (The Kestril was a bit more skittish).

It was pure heaven. I look forward to many more days there.