{"id":118517,"date":"2023-11-24T04:32:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T11:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=118517"},"modified":"2023-11-24T04:42:58","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T11:42:58","slug":"dark-morph-ferruginous-hawk-in-the-west-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/24\/dark-morph-ferruginous-hawk-in-the-west-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk In The West Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four years ago today, I found this gorgeous dark morph Ferruginous Hawk perched on a juniper fence post in the West Desert. I spotted it from about a mile away.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched dark morph Ferruginous Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/4000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

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When I was rescuing images from a failing hard drive a few days ago, I came across these photos. I hadn’t shared any images of this hawk from that morning and thought today would be a great time to do so.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That November, I was grateful for my sharp eyesight as it enabled me to spot this bird three times on different days from very long distances. After pointing out the hawk, I remember holding my breath each time, hoping it wouldn’t fly away before I could get close enough to photograph the dark, stunning raptor.<\/p>\n

In the interest of full disclosure, I did remove the top of a white metal fence post from the lower right corner of this image because it was bright and distracting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"LiftingLifting off dark morph Ferruginous Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, the large hawk waited to lift off from the juniper fence post until after I took a few images of it perched. The background may look like the sky with clouds, but it is actually Stansbury Island in the distance.<\/p>\n

What I liked about this photo was how it showed the strength and power behind this buteo lifting off and taking to the air.<\/p>\n

\"DarkDark morph Ferruginous Hawk in flight over the West Desert \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Ferruginous Hawk<\/span><\/a> took flight, I was able to take more photos of it as it flew over the foothills. When the large bird of prey was out of my line of sight, I was thrilled that I had been able to take these images.<\/p>\n

This morning there is actually snow on the ground for the first time of the winter! It is not much but I am happy to see it!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Four years ago today, I found this gorgeous dark morph Ferruginous Hawk perched on a juniper fence post in the West Desert. I spotted it from about a mile away. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118501,"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":[27,1069,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,970,2663,4268,2497,4530,4098,4620,898,2092,4052,4122,7017,4033,4169,2386,4944,4069,4104,153,10452,5428],"class_list":["post-118517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-ferruginous-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-regalis","tag-buteos","tag-dark-morph","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-fence-post","tag-ferruginous-hawk","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-foothills","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lifting-off","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-taking-off"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4510.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-uPz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74604,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/12\/west-desert-ferruginous-hawks-light-and-dark-morphs\/","url_meta":{"origin":118517,"position":0},"title":"West 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