{"id":108765,"date":"2022-12-15T05:30:05","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T12:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=108765"},"modified":"2022-12-15T05:30:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T12:30:05","slug":"immature-rough-legged-hawk-staring-prey-and-feaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/15\/immature-rough-legged-hawk-staring-prey-and-feaking\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk, Staring Prey And Feaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning I am sharing photos of an immature Rough-legged Hawk, its staring prey, of the bird feaking and a bonus image that shows the tongue of the hawk. There is also a bonus image at the bottom of the post. These images were taken exactly five years ago today.<\/p>\n

\"LightLight morph immature Rough-legged Hawk landing with prey \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This first photo shows the young Rough-legged Hawk landing on a kestrel nest box that was installed at Farmington Bay WMA many years ago. To the right of the talons touching the top of the nest box just the tip of the tail of the prey is visible. I really liked this landing pose and the look of concentration on the immature raptor’s face.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Rough-legged Hawk looking at a staring vole \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This second image shows that the hawk had moved to the top of the nest box and the vole is still grasped tightly in the talons of the bird. At this point in time the vole was still alive and staring out over the marsh.<\/p>\n

I took a very long series of the Rough-legged Hawk<\/span><\/a> consuming the vole and I still haven’t edited any of those images. Maybe I will get around to that one day and share those photos here too.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Rough-legged Hawk feaking \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This last image of the light morph immature Rough-legged Hawk shows the raptor feaking, which essentially means it is cleaning its bill on an object. I almost scrolled right past this photo in my archives to do this post but I caught sight of the tongue of this hawk.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Rough-legged Hawk feaking with inset showing the tongue \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided to share this same image with a large inset showing the pink tongue of the young Rough-legged Hawk as a bonus for this post. It isn’t often that I see the tongue of this species and I was excited to view it so clearly in the high resolution version of this photo.<\/p>\n

I’m hoping to get some time back out in the field after the snowstorms that have come back to back to back to my neck of the woods. We need the snow so I am not complaining but I do need some time in nature soon to soothe and revitalize me.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Rough-legged Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning I am sharing photos of an immature Rough-legged Hawk, its staring prey, of the bird feaking and a bonus image that shows the tongue of the hawk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1022,697,1087,26],"tags":[970,2663,4275,2497,3981,4620,13542,4033,4169,2386,4067,4123,2670,6865,4094,2279,4106,153,1648,4018,5875,4290,4095,4193],"class_list":["post-108765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-davis-county","tag-fall","tag-feaking","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-landing","tag-light-morph","tag-looking","tag-marsh","tag-nest-box","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-sky","tag-staring","tag-vole","tag-wetlands","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-prey-mia-mcpherson-5480.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-sih","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50053,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/23\/immature-light-morph-rough-legged-hawk-in-flight-landing\/","url_meta":{"origin":108765,"position":0},"title":"Immature Light Morph Rough-legged Hawk in Flight & Landing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Eight days ago I spent time photographing an immature, light morph Rough-legged Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk in flight over a field, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-flight-mia-mcpherson-5313.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49925,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/16\/immature-rough-legged-hawk-lift-off-landing-lunch\/","url_meta":{"origin":108765,"position":1},"title":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk – Lift Off, Landing & Lunch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to photograph an immature Rough-legged Hawk lifting off, landing and lunching at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk on nest box with lunch, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55136,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/27\/peek-a-boo-rough-legged-hawk-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","url_meta":{"origin":108765,"position":2},"title":"Peek-a-boo Rough-legged Hawk At Farmington Bay WMA","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Why did it make me laugh and smile? Because it looks like the Rough-legged Hawk might have been playing peek-a-boo as it looked towards me through its wingtips.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Peek-a-boo Rough-legged Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-nest-box-mia-mcpherson-5320.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-nest-box-mia-mcpherson-5320.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-nest-box-mia-mcpherson-5320.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-nest-box-mia-mcpherson-5320.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74760,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/19\/on-the-lookout-for-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":108765,"position":3},"title":"On The Lookout For Rough-Legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm hoping that this week I'll be able to spot my first of the season Rough-legged Hawks and that I'll be able to get photos of them too. Fingers are crossed!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk perched on a snow-covered cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic so we don't see them around here in northern Utah during the summer.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on a tree at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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