steve sutton
New member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2010
- Messages
- 61
Northern Harrier nestlings........
Shot this past weekend in Eastern Washington.....the nest had (3) eggs, one unhatched.....figuring the egg was the 2nd one laid that would mean the smaller bird could be as much as (5) days younger than the bigger one....that alone wouldn't account for the difference in size so I'm "assuming" that the smaller bird is the male....since male Harriers are a good 1/3rd smaller than the hens the time difference in hatching and the difference in male / female would "seem" to explain the difference in size....
I have pictures of them a week earlier when they still had their egg tooth and the size difference is about the same.....
Like most little brothers when they have big sisters this guy is more than happy to let his Big Sister "kick some ass" for him.......and I can tell you that those talons are "needle sharp".......
Steve

Shot this past weekend in Eastern Washington.....the nest had (3) eggs, one unhatched.....figuring the egg was the 2nd one laid that would mean the smaller bird could be as much as (5) days younger than the bigger one....that alone wouldn't account for the difference in size so I'm "assuming" that the smaller bird is the male....since male Harriers are a good 1/3rd smaller than the hens the time difference in hatching and the difference in male / female would "seem" to explain the difference in size....
I have pictures of them a week earlier when they still had their egg tooth and the size difference is about the same.....
Like most little brothers when they have big sisters this guy is more than happy to let his Big Sister "kick some ass" for him.......and I can tell you that those talons are "needle sharp".......
Steve