When I first saw this bird, I swore to my husband that it was an owl. Of course, an instant later I knew it was a hawk and not an owl. A view of the hawk in profile revealed an extremely long tail, at which point I knew it was a Northern Harrier.
It was an understandable mistake to confuse this hawk with an owl because Northern Harriers have facial disks like most owls do.
A Merlin and a Northern Harrier in one weekend is A-OK with me!
...I've only seen one of these fellows three times. Glad you were able to get photos of him! The second photo is really nice...you can see that oval face so well.
ReplyDeleteNice. Here in Utah we get Northern Harriers in the winter, so it's nice to see one in the trees.
ReplyDeleteVery cool Sue! I've never been able to get a good picture of one. Where were these pictures taken? There's lots of them at Burrage Pond in Halifax- it's neat to watch them swooping up and down over the bogs.
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