Battle for the bunny

[snake]

I have been taking a few pictures of the Harriers over the last few days and it's interesting to see the colour variations especially on the males.
This handsome fella dropped in for a feed yesterday sporting a beautiful white hood that came down to the middle of his chest.
I don't often see them so pale.



He hadn't been feeding long when a female dropped in and after a brief battle chased him away.

[htcdude]

Great pics again snake!

Look forward to the next set

Nige

[actionfinch]

Talk about posing... i bet it preened itself fo the pics....
great shots snake...
well done
If that rabit was not totally dead would have benn funny if it got up and legged it ...

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by snake

I have been taking a few pictures of the Harriers over the last few days and it's interesting to see the colour variations especially on the males.
This handsome fella dropped in for a feed yesterday sporting a beautiful white hood that came down to the middle of his chest.
I don't often see them so pale.

Male Marsh Harriers get paler as they become older which is probably a good explaination for the variation you are seeing. It also makes logical sense that less older birds survive so you see less pale birds. The male in your photo is probably an old bird, although some birds mature more quickly than others. It would be interesting if you have any shots of this individual in flight showing the upper tail coverts? (rump/top of the tail).

[snake]

Thanks for the explaination Doghound.
I have looked through all my pics but unfortunately I don't have any shots of this bird in flight.
We currently have between 70 - 80 birds roosting in the barley field every night and this chap really stands out from all the others.
There has been a tagging programme carried out on the farm for the last three years with different colour tags for each year.
As time goes by it will be much easier to age each bird by the tag colour and note the colour variations.
If anybody comes across a tagged marsh harrier please report your sighting to swalewaders.co.uk.

[Dogghound]

Interesting, we certainly get a lot of birds dispersing along the east coast. We will soon start seeing Juveniles around August so will keep an eye out.