This immature Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk is striking with those white polka dot spots on its back, I don't think I have ever seen a young Red-tail where the white spots on the scapulars are so pronounced.
It has been a long time since I had a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk in my view finder so when I spotted it hovering over a field I knew I had to stop and get photos of it.
The thing about this immature Red-tailed Hawk photo is this: I don't like the background color because I see these colors, tones and hues so frequently where I live in northern Utah.
I didn't get the Brown Creeper photos I have been dreaming of yesterday but I did take lovely images of an immature Ferruginous Hawk in early morning, golden light.
It is currently the time of the year when I start looking for Rough-legged Hawks in northern Utah, the temps have dipped below freezing, there has been frost on the ground and now we've had our first snow.
I don't see nearly as many harriers over the marshes at Farmington Bay as I used to five to ten years ago but the marshes have changed some since I moved to northern Utah.
When it comes to accipiters I see Sharp-shinned Hawks less frequently than I do Cooper's Hawks or Northern Goshawks so when I have a Sharp-shinned Hawk in my viewfinder I become very excited.
I have to wonder though how many people walked or drove right past this young Red-tailed Hawk and never noticed that it was even there
I couldn't have asked for a better birdy subject yesterday morning than this relaxed and cooperative immature Cooper's Hawk and I loved the setting it was in too.
Spotting this immature Cooper's Hawk resting in sagebrush yesterday was the highlight of my morning and even though the setting is messy I like that it shows this young hawk in the habitat this species can be found in.
I like to share some of the views I see while I am out wandering to look for birds because the scenery and different habitats I see at times are simply spectacular.
I don't see nearly as many Ferruginous Hawks as I would like to so I am always glad when I have one in my viewfinder that I can photograph even if it is taking a dump.
I didn't see or photograph as many Rough-legged Hawks last winter as I have in previous years but I did have a close up, extraordinary experience with one who was expelling a pellet on a snowy, foggy day at Bear River MBR.
There are times when one bird can make my day and yesterday that bird was an immature Red-tailed Hawk that I spotted just before heading home after a trip into the mountains that included fog and other challenges.
This photo session with an immature Swainson's Hawk reinforced how as a bird photographer I need to not only be keenly aware of changing light it also showed how I may need to quickly change my settings to get the photos I want.
Two days ago I was able to photograph an immature Swainson's Hawk in golden light perched on a fence post that was surrounded by bright yellow common sunflowers. Yes, I was blissed out.
I spent 26 minutes yesterday photographing juvenile Red-tailed Hawk siblings and had a blast watching them preen, lift off, flying, scratching, resting and landing.
My luck with American Goshawks has been horrible and because of that they have earned the distinction of being a nemesis for me.
What is better than photographing a male Red-tailed Hawk? Photographing the hawk with blooming wildflowers, in this case Gray's Biscuitroot.
When I heard a call to my left I glanced in that direction and saw a female Northern Harrier flying towards the Red-tailed at break neck speed.
The best bird I spotted that I could photograph was a male Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face and what I loved about this photo was all the grasses, lichen, wildflowers and the sage high up on the cliff.
There isn't a single day in the field where I take my eyesight and my keen spotting abilities for granted and yesterday those attributes netted me not one but two Merlins while I was at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
Justice has been served in the case of Richard Parker killing the 150 raptors but that does not bring those valuable raptors back. Parker should be glad that I wasn't his judge.
I've shared photos of this gorgeous dark morph Swainson's Hawk before and I've written about how I believed it was the darkest, dark morph I had ever seen and to date that still holds true.
I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.
By the time I took this next image in the series the Red-tailed Hawk had straightened her legs, her wings were high over her body and she was pushing off from the rock.
I'm happy to see that the rufous female Red-tailed Hawk does have a mate and that they are building a nest to raise their young in, I hope they are successful.
If I hadn't found and pointed out this stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning I would have basically come home without a single decent image of a bird.
One of my trips out to Fish Springs NWR happened during this time of the year and while I was there so was a gorgeous adult Bald Eagle that perched in the trees near the picnic area not too far from the refuge headquarters.
Would you be able to ID this hawk from just this image or similar view of it in the field if I hadn't already identified it in my title and my photo caption?