Harrier and the Duck

Ever since I saw a glimpse of the male Northern Harrier on the east side of the Rios Avenue Trail, I have been obsessed with getting a better look at this elusive Hawk known as the Gray Ghost. Today I decided to go to a trail on the east side of the I-5 freeway to see if I could get a closer look at this raptor. 

 

Arriving at the San Elijo Lagoon trail head at the end of Santa Carina road, I was soon walking north on the  Santa Carina Trail that overlooks the lagoon on the east side of the freeway. I came to a lookout at the top of a hill and immediately spotted, not the male Gray Ghost, but a female Northern Harrier hunting the lagoon area. I followed with my camera as she flew like a giant butterfly all over the lagoon. A beautiful flyby.

 The female Harrier spots something in the reeds. 

 

Makes a quick turn...

Talons down...

She got something!

The prey is thrashing and she is trying to keep her balance with both wings extended.

 

It's a duck and the Harrier appears to have her talons on the prey's head.

There is panicked thrashing by the duck but the Harrier holds tight. 

The wings of the duck go every which way. 

 I am feeling mixed emotions, sad for the duck and happy for the Harrier. She needs to survive too and this would make a wonderful meal for her.

The duck tries to sit up and twist away but the Harrier has quite a grip on her prey. 

The duck is kicking and thrashing. 

The Harrier's talons look to be locked tightly on the prey. 

 

The Harrier is using her wings to balance. She is keeping quite a grip on the prey. 

This is a vary large prey for the Northern Harrier. The prey looks to be a male American Wigeon which measures 20 inches long with a wing span of 32 inches but weighs 1.6 lbs. A Northern Harrier measures 18 inches long with a wingspan of 43 inches and weighs only 15 oz.

The prey fights back thrashing his wings.

 

The Harrier is using all her weight to keep the prey down. 

 

But the duck keeps thrashing...

 

The duck rolls himself towards the Harrier. The Harrier appears to be pushed up against some thick pile of reeds and sharp branches.

 We get to see the field markings on the duck. It is an American Wigeon.

The duck thrashes so much that the Harrier appears to be off balance. 

It appears that the Harrier is not in full control of the situation. 

 

The prey spots a ditch. The weight of the duck may be too much for the Harrier on the unstable ground. The duck makes a dive for the ditch and the Harrier appears to have released the prey to regain her balance.

You can see she is in a very unstable area. Unable to make good use of her large and powerful wings she is unable to control her prey.

The duck hunkers down deeper into the ditch, an opening in the reeds that leads to the water. 

The Harrier takes a good look at her prey and decides to get out of the confinement of the reeds.

The Harrier flies free of the reeds.

 

She charges the duck trying to make him turn his head her way. 

The duck hides deeper in the reeds.

She flies forward.

 

It appeared that the Harrier would attack the duck again. 

She wants the duck to turn her way.

She jumps forward in a full attack mode. She may be trying to draw the duck out of the ditch. 

The duck turns to defend himself.

You can see the gray bill of the male Wigeon sticking out of the reeds. 

The Harrier has succeeded in turning the duck around. Now his head is sticking out of the reeds. 

The Harrier makes another move but not at the duck. She flies over him as he struggles out of the ditch. 

She hovers for a second and flies past her prey. 

 

She lands on the reeds directly behind the duck. This maneuver flushes the duck out of hiding.

The Harrier doesn't attack but lets the duck waddle towards the water. 

 

The Harrier just sits and watches. The duck appears badly hurt and moves in a state of shock.

The Harrier spooks her prey to move forward. 

The duck is almost in the water and the Harrier flies past. 

A few more steps and he will be in the lagoon. The Harrier may have misidentified her duck in this case. I have seen a Harrier take down a Green-winged Teal but they are only 14 inches long with a wingspan of 23 inches and weigh only 12 oz!  This duck that she grabbed today was quite hidden in the reeds and the Harrier took a gamble going for it... the reward would have been a huge high protein meal.

The Wigeon stumbles and falls but keeps going towards the water. 

He makes it into the water and soon disappears into the reeds. 

The Harrier doesn't seem that concerned, she knows where he is hiding she circles a few times but appears to lose interest for now. She may be back again later to attack and the next time he will give less of a fight. 

I take one last shot of this beautiful raptor as I walk west to look for the male Harrier. I spent over two hours looking but never saw the male, maybe tomorrow... It's time for me to head for home. 

Have a nice day everyone.