Northern Harrier “Playing”

Play has been well documented in some bird species and I believe I photographed that behavior in a Northern Harrier this week.  This bird was too far away for quality images but I think the behavior is well documented in the photographs.

 

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I first spotted this hawk on an ugly metal fence post but as soon as I stopped my pickup to watch it through my lens the wary bird took off.  Almost immediately it performed a spectacular and classic harrier mid-air maneuver by changing directions and pouncing on something in the grasses.  I presumed it to be a vole.

 

 

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For about two minutes the bird continually struggled, wrestled and pounced on something I couldn’t see.

 

 

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The activity was quite frenetic and I took many photos of it.  As I watched through my lens I wondered if the harrier was trying to avoid being bitten by a vole or even a larger rodent.

 

 

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Eventually the harrier took off with its “prey”, which turned out to be dried cow poop.  Cow pies are common in this area because refuge managers run cattle there in the summer in an attempt to control invasive phragmites (personally I’m not a fan of cattle on public lands but that’s another story…).

 

 

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The harrier carried the cow pie only a few feet…

 

 

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before dropping it.  Whether that was done deliberately or not I don’t know but I suspect that it was because in the image just before this one (just as the pie leaves the foot) the talons on that foot are widely spread, as you’d  expect if the drop was deliberate.

 

 

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Then the bird performed another one of those impressive mid-air maneuvers as it changed direction in flight and once again landed on the same cow pie.

 

 

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The hawk then repeatedly pounced on the pie for perhaps another minute before…

 

 

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flying off and…

 

 

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doing the same thing to another apparent cow pie (I believe that’s what I see beneath the bird and in front of the greenery).  When it eventually tired of this activity it lifted off and…

 

 

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very deliberately harassed this male Ring-necked Pheasant by flying within inches of its head as it passed by.  I missed that shot because I hadn’t seen the pheasant so I wasn’t quick enough with my shutter finger.  But the harrier landed very close by, almost in intimidation of the pheasant.  I had the definite impression that this hawk was feeling frisky.

Northern Harriers playing with inanimate objects, corncobs in particular, has been well documented.  This is at least the second time I’ve seen them playing with cow pies at Farmington.  What fun, for me and apparently also for the harrier.

Ron

Note:  I’m “on the road again”, camping and photographing in southern Utah.  As usual I’ll be without computer access so I’ll likely be mostly incommunicado for the duration, though intermittent cell phone access should allow me to read any comments that may be made (which I enjoy).  I’ve scheduled posts to be published in my absence. 

 

9 Comments

  1. Very cool activity. Play is a wonderful thing for all of us.

  2. It’s quite obvious to me that this bird was practising for some kind of frisbee tournament….

  3. Many other animals play, including several avian species, so we shouldn’t be too surprised to find Harriers doing so. I once watched a Prairie Falcon playing… that was amazing.

  4. That was so fun to watch! I’ve seen owlets do the same thing with their dried pellets. They are practicing their hunting skills by pretending that it is a vole or a mouse that they need to capture. I love watching them do this. Great photos. Thanks Ron!

  5. Glad to know we aren’t the only species who “plays”. Thanks!!

  6. These photos may be from too great a distance to do more than document the activity, but they still show beautiful detail of the feathers. Life for birds is generally so serious that it’s nice to see at least a few of them playing. The other activity I’ve seen that looked to me like play was when the newly fledged Kestrels from our neighbors’ palm tree were learning about what they could do with the wind. I can’t be positive of the ID, but I’m pretty sure we had our first Northern Harrier sighting yesterday out at Hueco Tanks. O, happy day!

  7. I really enjoyed this. You could see that the bird was just “messing” around, if you will pardon the pun. Interesting that the pheasant didn’t react like prey. Almost as if it knew the hawk was just foolin’.

  8. How interesting! What fun to see! I wonder if this play is also a bit of practice with hunting. Hope you have a wonderful and productive trip.
    Charlotte

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