{"id":12072,"date":"2013-12-21T05:04:08","date_gmt":"2013-12-21T12:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=12072"},"modified":"2026-01-04T15:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T21:38:32","slug":"high-key-red-tailed-hawk-juvenile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/21\/high-key-red-tailed-hawk-juvenile\/","title":{"rendered":"High Key Red-tailed Hawk Juvenile"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HighHigh key Red-tailed Hawk juvenile – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +2.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

There is more fresh snow on the ground this morning with more predicted throughout the day so I am glad that I got out to Antelope Island State Park and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area yesterday.<\/p>\n

The light was delightful on Antelope Island yesterday morning but it has been terribly slow there for months as far as bird photography so other than a few snowy Common Raven images the island was pretty much a bust.<\/p>\n

After heading south to Farmington Bay WMA the “sweet” light disappeared because of the clouds overhead. Farmington Bay looked so strange to me yesterday because the ice and snow had nearly flattened all the phragmites and I could see farther into the marsh than I have ever been able to.<\/p>\n

There weren’t as many birds flying about as usual so I was happy to spot a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on a post that was drying itself off after diving into the snow for prey.<\/p>\n

The young hawk flew from the post to the top of a nest box and preened for a little while before it lifted off and chased some thing to the west but came up with empty talons.<\/p>\n

This high key Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> image was taken just after the juvenile lifted off from the nest box and while I love the pose I do wish the light had been a bit better.<\/p>\n

The high key effect happened in this case because of clouds and that virtually everything in the background was covered in snow.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

This Red-tailed Hawk image was taken just after the juvenile lifted off from the nest box and while I love the pose I do wish the light had been a bit better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,697,449,26],"tags":[2663,4170,4052,4122,4033,4169,1123,4067,4071,153,4209,373,4193],"class_list":["post-12072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-high-key-2","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-1345.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-38I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6872,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/23\/red-tailed-hawk-fly-by\/","url_meta":{"origin":12072,"position":0},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk fly by","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flying by last month at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area in Davis County.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in flight at Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-6837.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-6837.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I wonder if these two juvenile Red-tailed Hawks will hang around for the winter, I sure hope so.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fighting Red-tailed Hawk juveniles, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-1830.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-1830.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-juveniles-mia-mcpherson-1830.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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