ML615960063
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
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Observation details
"When there's snow, you go!" Absolutely epic, late day feeding frenzy!!! A significant snowfall just ended, early afternoon. Best in one scan was twenty-three brown birds (a large influx) and six gray ghosts. Birds were still hunting at 1804 (33 minutes after sunset). I could not stay and see, when the last bird dropped down. Very interesting is the fact that good numbers are typically not recorded, after morning dispersal. The grasslands are functioning primarily, as a roost site. The secondary function is as a foraging area, albeit for a much smaller percentage of the birds. Some birds after a good morning foraging, must return to the grasslands individually in the late morning/afternoon and go to roost, conserving energy (likely undetected with the turnover of observers), only to pop up at dusk, for a pre-overnight roost feeding. This is particularly noticeable with the adult male age/sex class, with their unique plumage. Suddenly at dusk, multiple adult males that were not observed prior during one's visit, suddenly take to the air. I have noted this trend many times over the years, at other locations with historically large roosts, such as the Wallkill River NWR and Shawangunk Grasslands. Some birds, perhaps even a large number, may never rise again that day, after a heavy morning feeding. See below what John J. Craighead and Frank C. Craighead, Jr. have to say on this topic, from their classic book Hawks, Owls and Wildlife (1956 & 1969). Apparently the Harriers that they studied, spent 57% of their time on the ground!
Technical information
- Model
- SM-A136U
- ISO
- 400
- Focal length
- 4 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/1.8
- Shutter speed
- 41669/1000000 sec
- Dimensions
- 3056 pixels x 3056 pixels
- Original file size
- 2.91 MB