Tuesday 14 December 2010

Dark Juv Montagu's harrier






Leaning against the car waiting for the kettle to boil and casually scanning a field for Bustards/Sandgrouse, a dark Monty's sneaked right past us under our noses. I sped up the road following it but it crossed over and flew south before i could reach it. Frustrated that it had passed so close and so low without me seeing it i spent the next 45 minutes cursing. Several more Monty's passed distantly south including another dark morph and a pair of normal ones - a small southward movement was obviously occurring that morning. A short while later as i drove further up the minor road we got a second chance for some close views when another? dark morph juvenile approached the road. The situation was far from ideal and i ended up lodged in the drivers side window, which during the blind panic i hadn't wound down enough, the car still moving and the harrier eventually (after pissing about) deciding to cross the road a bit further away than i would have liked. In the end i suppose i got decent record shots especially considering that the single focus point didn't hit the bird once but i was still left thinking if only i had.....