Adult Red-tailed Hawk perched on old, rusty farm machinery, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, UtahAdult Red-tailed Hawk perched on old, rusty farm machinery – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/6400, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

When I first visited Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in May of 2009 and saw a row of rusty farm machinery near the road that leads to the auto tour route I wanted to be able to photograph a raptor perched on the old equipment. I thought that the resulting photos would look great and every time I go past that area I look and hope to find a raptor there.

It took just a few months short of eleven years to finally get a raptor perched on the rusty farm machinery. When I spotted an adult Red-tailed Hawk on one of the pieces of rusty machinery two days ago on my way home from the auto tour route at the refuge I knew I had to get some photos of it. In that moment I wanted the photos more than I wanted to breathe.

The Red-tailed Hawk is small in the frame because it had perched on one of the last pieces of equipment in the row but I liked the images I took anyway because that gave all of the photos a “sense of place” that would have been lacking if the hawk had been closer and filled the frame more.

I am going to keep looking for raptors on that decaying row of farm machinery because one day I might get lucky and have a bird of prey perched closer to the road.

Me at 20 months old sitting on a tractor on our farm

Why do I love that rusting, old machinery so much? Because I started out my life as a farmer’s daughter which is why I connect to and love farms and old farming stuff. This is me at 20 months old sitting on a tractor eating bread or a sandwich. I’m always going to be a country girl at heart.

Life is good.

Mia

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