Even though I have been a bird photographer for some time now I still get a thrill when I am eye level with a bird of prey because it feels as if I am more strongly connected to the raptor when they fly in close at eye level.
In the winter I shoot a lot in fog, smog and low light conditions here in northern Utah but if you follow my blog you probably already know that and have heard me mention it a time or two (or four or a hundred).
I couldn't find Ten Lords a Leaping to photograph or in my archives but did locate one Gray Ghost a Leaping which tops the Lords for this bird photographer.
Eye color can be used to sex juvenile Northern Harriers, brown for juvenile females and yellowish for the males and this harrier is a definite brown-eyed beauty.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawk in North America which are only found in Canada and the United States and recent DNA analysis suggests that Ferruginous Hawks may be closer to Eagles in taxonomy than that of a hawk.
I was happy that I found this adult Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA and that it did lift off after a bit because as handsome as they can be perched they are even more beautiful On The Wing.
I wouldn't license this Red-tailed Hawk image for print because it has been altered but I like the image without the wires.
I woke up to a fine layer of snow on the ground this morning and silly as it may sound that gets me excited for the birds that over winter in the Salt Lake Valley such as this Rough-legged Hawk.
One of the Red-tailed Hawk juveniles I photographed on Antelope Island last year has "migrated" to Switzerland where my photo of it will be featured on a 5 x 15 meter billboard for a yacht company.
Yesterday was frustrating for me near Snowville, Utah because there were raptors all around but not many of them were close enough to photograph and the ones that were close were either vey skittish or wouldn't fly off of the power poles even after long periods of time.
The dark morph Ferruginous Hawk above had just lifted off from a power pole when I photographed it with a partly cloudy sky in the background.
I love the raised wings of the Ferruginous Hawk, the bright blue sky with just a hint of clouds and the regal raptor soaring above me and the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County, Utah
This is an adult Swainson's Hawk just after it lifted off from the barb wire on top of a fence on Antelope Island State Park a few days ago.
This is a rather short tale about a Red-tailed Hawk although the tail of the Red-tailed Hawk is no shorter than any other Red-tailed Hawk.
Tooele County beckoned yesterday and I am glad it did because of coming across this adult Red-tailed Hawk.
Just a simple juvenile Red-tailed Hawk this morning that I took last year on Antelope Island State Park as it flew past me with the dark Farmington complex rocks in the background.
This year hasn't provided me with as many opportunities to photograph Rough-legged Hawks as last winter did and before long these raptors will be heading to the high Arctic to find mates on their breeding grounds.
I photographed this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flying by last month at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in Davis County.
These are a just few images that I have edited taken since August of Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on Antelope Island State Park.
One of the nice things about cruddy weather is that I get the chance to edit some of the images that are languishing in my files that I have taken but not gotten around to processing. Here are a few of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photographed in August on Antelope Island State Park.
Last winter was awesome for seeing Rough-legged Hawks and I am hoping they had another great breeding season and that they will show up here in large numbers to over winter.
I had another great day with juvenile Red-tailed Hawks on Antelope Island State Park last week.
I had fun yesterday photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) as it perched on rocks and hunted for prey. This image shows the Red-tailed coming in for a landing.
Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic so we don't see them around here in northern Utah during the summer.
I am one of those people who love deserts and the West Desert of Utah is once again beckoning to me. The weather here in Utah is very changeable right now, it can feel like spring one day and the next it still feels like winter but it won't be long before the weather levels out and the west desert will begin to green up.
There aren't many people in the west desert of Utah thus the raptors and other birds that live there are not habituated to people so they are very skittish even when using a mobile blind.
These images are from an afternoon just like that when I happened to find and point out a lovely Rough-legged Hawk on a breezy day.
Last week though I had the opportunity to photograph a very cooperative Rough-legged Hawk preening.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America, the "regalis" in the latin name means "kingly" or "regal" and I have to agree with those descriptions.
I'm looking forward to seeing red-tailed hawks in the high country of Utah and Montana this summer and hopefully getting some more images of both the juveniles and adult.