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Today at Schooner Pond, I had one of those moments that just leaves you speechless. I was lying on the beach, photographing a small flock of Semipalmated Plovers & Sandpipers, completely in the zone. Out of nowhere, I heard this rustle in the distance, someone or something must've spooked a huge flock of Ruddy Turnstones and they came flying right towards me. This sudden rush freaked out the little flock I was focused on and then in the blink of an eye, like some kind of wild, unexpected twist, a Northern Harrier came out of nowhere. It swooped down so fast and snatched one of the Semipalmated plovers right from the group I was watching. It was such a raw, intense moment, like nature showing its true colors right in front of me. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it in my life and it left me with the mix feeling of awe and a bit of heartbreak:/. I shall duplicate this observation for that unlucky plover too.

This was recorded with an Audiomoth. The background noise was reduced using Audacity. A clip was isolated using Kaleidoscope and uploaded to BirdNET for identification.

This is only the second observation on iNaturalist of the Boreal Owl in Nova Scotia.