{"id":110057,"date":"2023-02-06T05:01:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=110057"},"modified":"2023-02-06T05:01:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T12:01:35","slug":"driftwood-guardian-rough-legged-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/06\/driftwood-guardian-rough-legged-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Driftwood Guardian: Rough-legged Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I stopped to take photos of an adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched on a driftwood snag over the Bear River when I was leaving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/refuge\/bear-river-migratory-bird\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Bear River MBR<\/span><\/a> four days ago.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-110054 size-full\" title=\"Adult Rough-legged Hawk perched over the Bear River\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Rough-legged Hawk perched over the Bear River, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult Rough-legged Hawk perched over the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Even though the Rough-legged Hawk wasn&#8217;t close, I liked the unique setting, the weathered driftwood, and the hawk&#8217;s head angle. There was some ground fog in the background that seemed to soften the ranchlands north of the perched, overwintering raptor. Through my viewfinder I could still see some frost on the driftwood snag sparkling in the sunlight.<\/p>\n<p>In my imagination, the Rough-legged Hawk appeared to be guarding the driftwood snag, though I couldn&#8217;t say for certain why.<\/p>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t gotten the photos I have wanted of the Rough-legged Hawks that have wandered down to northern Utah from their arctic nesting grounds to overwinter this year. The weeks and weeks of gray, leaden clouds have caused me to stay home more often than I usually do during typical winters here. I&#8217;m relieved that we are getting the snow that we need to help with our drought. There simply haven&#8217;t been very many bright days to head out into the field this winter at all.<\/p>\n<p>It won&#8217;t be long before the Rough-legged Hawks that have overwintered in northern Utah will take wing to head to their breeding grounds. I hope to spend more time with them before they go.<\/p>\n<p>A large percentage of the Rough-legged Hawks that I have found this winter have been very skittish and have taken flight before I get to them. The hawk in this photo wasn&#8217;t skittish but it was on the other side of the river which is why he is small in the frame.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/rough-legged-hawk-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">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":"<p>I stopped to take photos of an adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched on a driftwood snag over the Bear River when I was leaving Bear River MBR four days ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[124,27,1148,1087,26],"tags":[4004,2663,4275,2497,1996,368,4033,4169,2386,4062,4104,11852,153,5558,1648,8453,4050,4095,373],"class_list":["post-110057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-driftwood","tag-frosty","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-male","tag-perched","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptors","tag-river","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-snag","tag-snow","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-bear-river-mia-mcpherson-1751.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-sD7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100107,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/20\/immature-rough-legged-hawk-perched-on-a-tumbleweed\/","url_meta":{"origin":110057,"position":0},"title":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk Perched On A Tumbleweed","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to spot, point out, and photograph this immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk that was perched on a tumbleweed at Bear River MBR yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk perched on a tumbleweed, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4666.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-tumbleweed-mia-mcpherson-4666.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":119249,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/19\/rough-legged-hawk-in-dense-fog\/","url_meta":{"origin":110057,"position":1},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk In Dense Fog","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Some bird photographers might not share a photo like this Rough-legged Hawk in dense fog that I took two years ago today at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk in dense fog at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75556,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/27\/focusing-on-adult-male-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":110057,"position":2},"title":"Focusing On Adult Male Rough-legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ten days ago I found and photographed this adult male Rough-legged Hawk as it perched on a Russian Olive tree at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge when I was heading home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched in a Russian Olive tree, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-4908.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-4908.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-4908.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-4908.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":110057,"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 &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107524,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/25\/rough-legged-hawk-season-has-begun\/","url_meta":{"origin":110057,"position":4},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk Season Has Begun","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Rough-legged Hawk season has begun in northern Utah. I spotted my first of season Rough-legged Hawks on the wing last Friday.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male light morph Rough-legged Hawk on a February morning, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42880,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/27\/my-first-of-the-season-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":110057,"position":5},"title":"My First of the Season Rough-legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I went to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge yesterday hoping to see and photograph my first of the season Tundra Swans and Rough-legged Hawks, I dipped on the swans but found at least 5 of the hawks.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on Parking Area sign, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-parking-sign-mia-mcpherson-9686.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-parking-sign-mia-mcpherson-9686.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-parking-sign-mia-mcpherson-9686.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-parking-sign-mia-mcpherson-9686.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}