Pair of Red-tailed Hawks Mating – A Wild 34 Seconds

Red-tailed Hawks Mating

Female Red-tailed Hawk leaving the nest – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

The light yesterday was beautiful, there was a slight breeze, the morning temps were cool and I just had to be outside in it. There were a few thin clouds to the east but they were thin enough that they didn’t interfere with the light. I was hoping to find some Short-eared Owls courting but only saw two in flight.

What my keen eyes did find was a pair of Red-tailed Hawks at an old nest site in Box Elder County. What caught my eyes was movement in the nest and new nesting material that hadn’t been there before.

What I didn’t expect yesterday was that I would be able to photograph the Red-tailed Hawks mating on the lichen-covered outcropping but that is what happened very quickly after turning around to get better light on the nest.

Then one of the hawks flew off of the nest and landed nearby on a rocky outcropping covered in lichen.

Male Red-tailed Hawk flying towards the female – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

This image isn’t the best of the photos in a technical sense but when the male flew in towards the female his body and wings lined up in such a way that it looked like one oddly formed hawk instead of two individuals.

It also shows fine barring on the rectrices (tail feathers) of the male.

Male Red-tailed Hawk about to mount the female – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

This photo shows the female in a receptive posture and the male landing on her back. It also shows that the female lacks the fine barring on her tail that the male has on his. Both hawks show one thick terminal band on their tails.

A Wild 34 Seconds

Male Red-tailed Hawk mounting the female – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

This image shows when the male mounted the female. Note that the male has his talons on the female’s back and although it is hard to see at this size his talons are curled up tight into a “fist”, I assume he does that so he doesn’t hurt the female.

Mating Red-tailed Hawks in Box Elder County – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

After the male mounted the female stayed in her crouched position with the male above her.

Male Red-tailed Hawk calling while mating – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

I could hear the male calling while he mated with the female however to my ears it was not the call we all recognize when a Red-tailed Hawk is in flight, perched or calling to another bird. I wish I could have recorded the call but my focus is on images rather than recording sounds. I looked on the net to see if there were any recorded mating calls but did not find any to share.

Red-tailed Hawks mating on a rocky outcropping – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

During this mating session the female seemed to use her left wing to help balance the male’s weight or activity by dropping that wing low enough to touch the rocky outcropping. I can’t say for certain that is why she lowered that wing but that wing was in that position until they finished mating.

The male’s tail is just above the female’s tail in this photo and we can only see the underside of his and the top of her tail.

Red-tailed Hawks copulating – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

In this photo the female Red-tailed Hawk’s tail looks like it belongs on the male, it can be seen where his right wing meets his chest above her back. The male’s tail is now just below the female’s right wing and rump.

Pair of Red-tailed Hawks mating on lichen covered rocks – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

I have to say I was very pleased with my Nikon D500 while photographing this mating session because there was never a time when I felt my camera buffer was filling even though I was firing in one long, high speed burst. It is so nice to not worry about my buffer filling like I used to with my older camera bodies.

I took over 200 images of these hawks mating in two long bursts. I only stopped firing the shutter briefly to refocus once. I love the Nikon D500 for bird photography.

FYI, I use a Lexar Professional 64 GB XQD 2933x memory card, it is blazing fast for reading/writing and if you can use an XQD card in your camera I highly recommend getting them. Last week I forgot my XQD card in the card reader at home while out shooting and I only had the SD card inserted in my D500, I did notice my buffer filling with the SD card while shooting a burst that day and have never noticed that in the field with my XQD card. I remember missing some pretty fantastic shots in the past because of my camera buffer filling.

Red-tailed Hawk pair on the rocks – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

Okay, back to the mating Red-tailed Hawks. Sorry there are so many images in this post but I felt they were needed to tell the story with pictures.

Copulating Red-tailed Hawk pair – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

While copulating the male held his wings in many positions, I liked this photo because his wings are slightly spread and it also shows a view of his talons all curled up.

Red-tailed Hawk mating behavior – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

I liked this photo because it shows the female’s tail fanned out above her back while the male’s tail seems to have disappeared but it is actually behind the female’s body and her dropped left wing and can’t be seen. He may have been using his tail at this point to maintain his balance.

Red-tailed Hawks on the rocks – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

By this frame the male had been mating with the female for just about 30 seconds and I wondered if he was getting tired or how much longer this would go on. I have photographed wild mating Red-tailed Hawks before on the top of a juniper and it did not last this long. Maybe that was because the juniper was not as steady of a perch as this rocky outcropping.

Red-tailed Hawk male beginning to dismount – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

By the time I took this photo I could tell that the male was beginning to dismount from the female.

Mating completed

Red-tailed Hawks after mating – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

Sure enough he did move away from the female who had her tail stuck straight up in the air when they were done mating. The duration of this mating session from the time the male flew into to the female was a wild 34 seconds.

I don’t often get to photograph birds mating and it is always exciting when it happens. Photographing these Red-tailed Hawks mating yesterday was awesome.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.