Bob and Tweets,

I saw a female northern harrier pull a couple of looping dives like that
in Boundary Bay just over the Canadian border in late January. There
were males around in the area, but I wouldn't have associated it with
courtship at that time of year.

Louise Rutter
Kirkland

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
> [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf
> Of Bob Stallcop
> Sent: 20 April 2007 12:07
> To: Tweeters List
> Subject: [Tweeters] Aerobatic Harrier Behavior...Why?
>
>
> Tweets;
>
> I stopped at the Kent Ponds yesterday afternoon on my way
> home from the weekly Nisqually bird walk, and observed what I
> considered some pretty spectacular behavior by a female
> Northern Harrier. As I was watching and describing to a
> photographer on the north tower the difference in "typical"
> flight patterns between Red-tailed Hawk and N. Harrier, the
> Harrier proceeded to belie my description of the normal low
> swooping flight pattern and began to do the typical Red-tail
> spiral soar on a thermal. She climbed to about 1000 feet, and
> then did a perfect roll out into a spectacular dive down to
> about 500 feet, then pulled out of the dive and did a
> complete back loop. The bird continued her aerobatic display
> for about 10 more minutes, soaring to altitude, diving, and
> pulling a back loop, before finally flying off to the
> northwest at about 500 feet.
>
> Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior from a Harrier?
> When the display started, there was another female and a male
> in the area. Is it some kind of mating display, or just the
> kind of exhuberant behavior that some animals engage in "just
> because they can"?
>
> Bob Stallcop
> Renton (Maple Valley Heights), Washington
> bstallcop at seanet.com
> (425)922-2300
>
>
>
>
>
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