Photographer Captured Two Northern Harriers Exchanging Prey Mid-Air

Photography brings us a little closer to wildlife that we wouldn’t be able to explore in its natural habitat. And while making it possible for us, wildlife photographers sometimes capture rare and expressive images, like this perfectly timed photo series of a seamless prey exchange mid-air. This set of fantastic shots, caught on camera by wildlife photographer Patrick Coughlin, shows female and male northern harriers sharing their prey for possible nestlings.

The photographer shared his lucky find on Twitter―a weirdly dramatic and suspenseful story is created just through just three pictures.

More info: Instagram | twitter.com

A male initiates the exchange by dropping the prey

Image credits: @myrgard

A female positions to grab the prey whilst mid-air

Image credits: @myrgard

Mission completed

Image credits: @myrgard

“The birds are northern harriers, a male on the top and female making the catch. While they are raising nestlings, the male will do most of the hunting and bring prey back to the female watching the nest. The photos capture that moment. In terms of actually getting the shots, it’s just a lot of location scouting to determine light and wind once I found the pair,” the photographer told Bored Panda.

These birds of prey are very common across North America and Canada. Northern harriers are the most owl-like of hawks, which helps them hear better as they rely on their hearing and vision when hunting. They mostly hunt small mammals and birds and the male will do the job while the female will look after the nest. In fact, one northern harrier might have more families to care about as these raptors are one of the few bird species to practice polygyny and one male can mate with up to five females.