Male northern harrier performs some Top Gun moves. An absolutely insane aerobatic display put on by this hawk this past weekend.
It was patrolling over a field and rather than doing the usual fast and low hunt that these raptors are known for, it was opting for a far more vertical approach. Almost like I have seen hummingbirds do, it would fly high then perform a vertical dive to the ground, pulling up at the last minute and then rocketing skyward again. When it reached the top, it actually would roll onto its back, going inverted before plummeting toward the ground again.
I have never seen a harrier do this before and when I looked at the pics and saw it upside down, I was amazed. The action was a good ways away so these images are pretty heavily cropped and not the best but it portrays some neat action. Click through them all to see the sequence.
