SD Raptors

What a small perch!  You can see the "pants" -
feathers on the legs.

The rough-legged hawks were in town in SD.  Also saw red-tailed hawks and great horned owls.

Dark rough-legged!

You can see the "pants" here, too!

This red-tailed hawk just had lunch - look at the crop!

Great horned being 007.

Northern Harrier Hunting

 What a recent treat on trip to SD.  Got to watch a male northern harrier hunt! 

The bird did not know I was there - about a quarter mile away.
Got to watch it stretch!

Thought the bird was going to fly off - still just stretching!

The gig might be up - how on earth do they hear you that far away?

Must hear a mouse . . .see the feet come down?

Thought the bird was getting ready to pounce . . .

Look at the start of that wing-over!

Heading down!

Look how the wings tip up as the bird gets into the tall grass.

You can see how tall that grass is.

Getting back up - see how the body is almost straight up.

Again - the bird hardly needed an incline to get height.

This is how well the bird blends in.  This is with a zoom.

This is the landscape without a zoom.