Raptors at Theler Wetlands

It’s not just the Great Blue Herons that have returned to Theler Wetlands. Winter is a good time to find raptors at Theler, though there not nearly as common as herons. They aren’t nearly as willing to pose for the camera, either, which is why it seems special when you manage to catch a shot like this one of a Northern Harrier backlit by the morning sun.

Unfortunately, more often than not harriers fly low to the ground, blending in with the background.

Rarely do you get lucky and catch a shot of a Cooper’s Hawk basking in the sunshine on a rail seemingly indifferent to you or your camera.

I thought I’d managed to capture a great shot of this Kestrel, but half of it was underexposed while the other half was overexposed.

While it was great fun to watch this pair of Bald Eagles courting, they were soaring so high in the sky that I had to radically crop the shot even to get this.

Photos or no photos, birding is my favorite way to exercise and to bring harmony back to my life.