March is proving to be a fickle month from a running perspective. With an unexpected delay in getting my training ramped up thanks to some less than appreciated weather in Arizona, I am admittedly behind on my training. Built back the base as well as I could during the first part of February and transitioned to the hard trails a few weeks ago. Long runs, steep technical terrain and lungs determined to break their rib cage confinement. The annoying part is dealing with ever-changing weather conditions. 30F’s with slick heavy frost, then 50’s with trail weeping in the lowlands followed by beautiful 75’s only to give way back to the 30’s the following day producing some comical scenes catching black ice lurking below the leaves. That was all manageable until the grey skies arrived yesterday and tossed me back onto the pavement. While I impatiently wait for the trails to harden, thought it would be a good time to get my first post of the month out.
Hit the jump to read more about this ghostly predator.
While going through my processed shots from out January 2023 trip to Texas, I came upon this series of shots and figured it would be a perfect selection in light of the grey skies that have given me a rare day off. We had just spent the day at Estero Llano Grande State Park (yes, the Estero I am always raving about in the Rio Grande Valley related posts). Heading back the nearby RV park, we came upon a small field just off the road. There a lone bird was silently hunting the grounds.
Low, effortless strafing runs methodically searching for prey on every pass. Quickly went through my internal ID process – long tails, slightly swept back (‘V’) wings, slim body, hooded, no shoulder patches, whitish toned underside, sparse barring/spotting, limited wing beats, but something was off and that means tin time. Shouted our super-secret code word for “Bri’s gotta go” and grabbed for the door handle – Linda barely got the Jeep stopped before I was leaping out and trying to get The Beast on this intriguing target. Welcome to the world of extreme birding ha.
Through the glass I was able to confirm a Rocky Marciano nose, owl-like projections around the eyes and then, after patiently waiting for an expected turn at the end of the field, there it was, a white rump patch. Note, the white rump is a solid tell here in the Midwest, but down in Texas you need to quickly check off a couple of other possibilities like the White-Tailed Hawks (link here), White-Tailed Kites (link here), Harris’s Hawk and a few others. All signs pointed to a Northern Harrier, but something was off, my decision tree indicates it should be drenched in browns. This specimen was clearly decked out in grey… pondered a moment and then it clicked.
Our astute readers probably already know my oversight on this one. I have heard about the male Northern Harrier, but oddly enough, never witnessed one. With that new experience I can now update my constantly improving internal birding decision tree! The Cornell website does not give justice to how grey the males are in this species. In fact, that site doesn’t even reference their nickname as the Grey Ghost. I rarely have good things to say about the Audubon site, but I do like their (now outdated) Sketch area (link here), which has a nice write up on the males (link here).
Northern Harriers are widespread here in North America and nearly all of Central America. Our friends across the pond refer to them as “Hen Harriers” named for their preference of Grouse and other fowl. They are year-long residents across the middle of the States – some moving north for breeding and others wanting to keep their wingtips warm will soar south. I mentioned the owl-like projections earlier. They are a really good field indicator to ID the Harrier as it is rare (if not the only) Hawk that has this feature which is referred to as “facial discs”. Similar to Owls, these discs help funnel sound into the ears. Enhanced hearing, hawk eyes and silent gliding due to limited need for wing beats makes this species deadly day hunters.
The adult Harriers have beautiful yellow eyes which I am sure males use to their advantage when wooing mates. According to Cornell, the males are quite the players taking on multiple females, which caught me by surprise as I was aware they will fiercely defend their nests. Now wondering if there is a “preferred” mate and the others are stashed elsewhere in local plush apartments with a monthly Vole stipend – “Honey, going bowling with the guys, don’t wait up, I’ll be back late”.
Although not a new species for me, the Grey Ghost was definitely a treat and worth the chastising I received from Linda about jumping out of the car before she came to a safe exit point. I’ve learned that my “but it was a’s” don’t hold much weight with her. Since I can’t get on the trails at the moment, time to toughen up the mental game by finishing the final pages of “Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness” by Steve Magness followed by another viewing of Lucy’s Dad (link here). Race season is coming up fast and I need every bit of inspiration I can get ha.
Take care everyone!
Wildlife Intrigued 
Nice find Brian. Though the Intrigued Safety department will probably be calling to schedule Safety training…again! You and Linda must go through brakes more than average.
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Shhhhhh, do NOT tell the safety department!!! You have to be on alert if you are gonna bird with me, we can always get new brakes, but a missed bird…tragedy ha.
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Wonderful photos, Brian. There is a local birding hotspot where I see a male harrier nearly all the time. I have taken dozens of photos, but most are out of focus, so I’m very envious. 😊
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Thank you Tanja! I was lucky he was more intent on hunting than noticing me pointing the big glass at it. More envious that you have better access to these ghosts, seems like I can only find the females. Appreciate you coming by Tanja and take care.
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Very nice shots of a hard to capture bird. The marshes of the Lowcountry have many, and they are still a ‘pain’ to catch 😁. A few friends have made it a goal to go out most mornings, walk the marshes, and come back semi-empty handed. They do get some shots, but they are all full time wildlife photographers…so getting skunked fairly often makes them more dedicated 😂🤣😂. Me, I wait for one to bump into me when in the marshes. Again, great shots.
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Thank you Ted. I can relate to being skunked in the field and that isn’t just with these Harriers ha. Fortunate for me I didn’t have to worry about any Gators roaming the area when I was taking these shots – your marshes can be full of all kinds of “unpleasant” creatures that I would be scared to death to see, much less “bump” into hehehe. As always, appreciate you dropping in.
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What a find! And we’ve been experiencing similar weather. Great captures!
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Great post about one of my favorite birds – your photos really do this Gray Ghost justice! I had researched them for a post I did at the end of last summer, and found a research study. The study showed clearly that the polygyny of the males was triggered by the abundance of food (the researchers counted voles). Over the 23-year study period, roughly 80% of chicks fledged were for monogamous pairs, roughly 15% were for males with two mates, and the remaining 5% were for males with more than two mates. So polygyny is a species survival strategy taking advantage of a bumper year in food.
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Thank you Sam! That is really fascinating on the food to mate ratio. That is one heck of a study – 23 years. These days if I can get a study that has more than 10 subjects and followed for more than a month it is a miracle. The result of this study are two-fold, species perseverance and mouse/vole/chimpmunk control – nature is just plan fantastic. Really appreciate the additional info and we are looking forward to see what Texas will be like in the Spring.
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Beautiful photos. I hope you can get some consistent weather in for training. Our temps are in the 20s in the morning and mid 60s by afternoon. It’s been windy.
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Thanks Tim! Temps were trending up this last week high 40s, followed by 65 and then 75 allowing for some good mileage before heading south. Now I’ll be down where the temps are more consistent, but will be harder to find places to get miles in – I just can’t win ha. Plan is to get 2 or so maintenance runs in a week while down here and then start double-run days once we get back. Take care and thanks for stopping by.
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If you ever make it up this direction, you can train at altitude, anywhere from 5K in the valley to 11k feet above sea level on the top of the Sandias. You could also run the La Luz trail starting at around 7K going up to 11K. Then you ride the Tram down.
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I could definitely benefit from that altitude training, well, maybe not the 11K part ha. I could feel the heavy lungs just walking the trails in the Arizona mountains. There are a lot of famous races out west (like the pinnacle Western States) that I would love to try out some day (sooner more than later as the years get up there for me) and all those will need altitude lungs. I heard there are TRoAEs also in your area so I will need to be careful if I do.
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Lots of them. And they are all calling your name. When they first started testing for blood doping in cycling, we who train at altitude were suspect.
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One of these days I’m going to convince Linda to let me take on the big boys out there – I have to get past this 100K barrier first and that has proven a difficult hurdle as of late. Train, train and more train.
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Just think “Super Chief Locomotive!”
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I should make a point to keep telling myself that on every mile past 50 to keep me motivated..vs the “damn that hurts” motto I’ve used the last two attempts hehehehe.
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You probably don’t ever consider wearing a “Davy Crockett” coon skin hat while out photographing hawks and such. If they flew toward you it might be possible to use only a 70-200mm lens. Just a thought. And running would probably not be advised. 😳😁😁🫣
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Hahahaha – maybe a good time to bring out my coat with dead voles stapled to it (had to put away my running outfit with the deer antlers on it during our hunting season). Actually hope Linda doesn’t see that suggestion or she might try sticking a tail on me when I’m not looking. Appreciate you stopping in and take care.
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Lovely images of a lovely bird!
Did you know that over here the ‘authorities’ split the Hen and Northern a few years back and are now treated as two separate species, try telling them apart in the field!
Sadly the Hen Harrier is our most persecuted bird due to it’s liking for Red Grouse. In England it’s almost extinct as a breeding bird. Every year chicks are fitted with trackers, every year they simply vanish and the game keepers of the grouse moors say ‘It’s nothing to do with us’, lying bastards!
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Thank you B.! I was not aware they split the Hen and Northern over there. Let me guess, that is a distinction you can only tell if you have both in your hands and some DNA tests. I have to chuckle as one of the sites I was using for reference specifically noted the Hens being shot of the sky near the royals’ estates and even eluded to Harry being involved. Hope everything is going well across the pond.
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Everything’s fine, just waiting for spring.
Yes that incident with the shooting of the Harriers on the Sandringham estate (50 miles from where we live) caused a big uproar as no one was prosecuted yet there was only three people out there at the time, the ginger ‘spare’ his Dutch buddy and the Gamekeeper with them.
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“Ginger spare” okay, that made me laugh out loud. (is there any way we can get you to take him back from here, the grifter has outlived his welcome). Best of luck for an early spring wave.
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From what I’ve read his visa is under review in court and he may not have been entirely ‘truthful’ in his application. If he manages to win his case (money talks) you can keep him!
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Did not know that, but just read an blurb on it which confirmed it – hmmmm – from what I can tell his tell all book basically pissed off all of hollywood so I am not sure they have anyone in their corner now.
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We regularly see the distinctive female Northern Harrier here, but I have yet to see a male, referred to as the Gray Ghost by birders I know. These are incredible photos!
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Thank you! I find it intriguing how secretive these males are. Beginning to think they sit back in their lazy-boys and send the wives out to get the food ha! Now that I am familiar with what these ghosts look like I am hoping I can spot them easier in the future – we’ll see. Appreciate you coming by and have a great weekend.
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LOL. Your captures of the male(s) are wonderful! Hope you see many more!
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Thanks!
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They are such graceful birds! I especially liked the fourth photo showing their harrier behavior.
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Thank you! I keep wondering what he was thinking while looking at me – “I wonder how he tastes” ha. Appreciate you coming by and have a wonderful rest of the week.
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Beautifully captured. Lovely to see them in flight.
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Thank you Maria. It was such a thrill to see my first Grey Ghost in the wild. Had read about them and seem one at a Raptor show but up to this point had not had the joy of finding one out in the field. Appreciate you dropping by.
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