Recorded with Canon EOS Rebel T3i built-in mic. Amplified and noise-removed using Audacity. Habitat: Freshwater marsh bordered by residential area and shrub/forest. Behavior: Concealed in marsh for awhile, then flew out and called once or twice more in flight. Plumage: Immature/female.

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

male approached female in flight, unknown which called

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

calling in flight near me as I walked a trail through the grassland

same bird as XC277504

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

Scold of adult female flushed from nest.

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

Two Northern Harriers, both in female/juvenile type plumage, flew in while I was audio recording a Sedge Wren and hunted intensively for a few moments with feet dangling below them as they coursed over the grass. One of the birds vocalized as it dived into the grass. The second bird responded vocally with a variant call and then flew over and joined its companion on the ground. About five minutes later both birds took off, flying together purposefully to the west and climbing higher and higher as they went. I was unable to age the two birds properly because of the low-angle light and distance while holding the microphone. The whole interaction struck me as a parent hunting with a juvenile.

Habitat

State waterfowl refuge along the margins of USACE flood control reservoir. Strip along the lake margins ~1km wide of moist soil grassland with mix of forbs, native warm season grasses (Andropogon, Schyzachyrium, Eragrostis, Aristida, etc.), and some sparse woody vegetation (Cephalanthus, Quercus saplings, etc.) bounded by oak hickory forest and, in places, pine plantation. Three or four shallow waterfowl impoundments partially flooded in the winter.

Editing

Edited in Adobe Audition. Butterworth high-pass filter, order 3, cutoff frequency 1kHz. Cut from the same recording as XC290059.

Equipment

Fostex FR-2 digital recorder with Sennheiser microphone and Telinga pro 22' parabolic reflector.

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

Adult female whistling while circling overhead. Recording amplified and filtered for clarity. Background bird calls spliced out except for a house sparrow which calls simultaneously with one of the squeals.

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

Female was perched in a large tree on the edge of a swampy meadow. She started calling when a coopers hawk entered her territory and continued to call until he was out of sight.

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

it dove at me as I was walking along a trail through the grasslands

bird-seen:yes

playback-used:no

Unmodified recording. Harrier was first seen as if she was taking off from the edge of the road, about 1/4 mile from where recordist was standing. She flew across the road and over the fen, then circled back and flew around me, at an altitude of about 10 meters, calling as she flew. This was remarkable behavior -- never has a harrier vocalized near me in the past. At the end of the recording she became silent and flew away. I photographed her as she came over the road from the fen just before she began to call. This was inbetween two Sedge Wren recordings made near the same site, XC815807 and XC815810.