{"id":120820,"date":"2024-02-10T04:16:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T11:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=120820"},"modified":"2024-02-10T07:41:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T14:41:25","slug":"young-red-tailed-hawk-up-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/10\/young-red-tailed-hawk-up-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Red-tailed Hawk Up Close"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day I photographed this young Red-tailed Hawk, I took 135 images of the immature raptor in just a little over a minute at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Red-tailed Hawk up close \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a sunny morning, and I had already made one loop around the auto tour route at the refuge. I had taken hundreds of photos of cranes, ducks, herons, Rough-legged Hawks, kestrels, coots, swans, gulls, and ravens.<\/p>\n

I was delighted with my images, but I was also feeling very peaceful. Going to the refuge almost always has that effect on me. That feeling is a big part of the reason I enjoy the refuge as much as I do. It centers me, grounds me, and connects me with nature.<\/p>\n

While I was driving slowly back towards the interstate to head home, I spotted this gorgeous young buteo perched on a wooden post. Even though I pulled way over to the opposite side of the road, the bird was so close that I could only take portraits of the young Red-tailed Hawk.<\/p>\n

I’m never going to pass up a chance to take close up images of my subject if I am not disturbing them<\/em>, and I wasn’t disturbing this young hawk. The Red-tailed Hawk was looking for prey, and while I took images of them, they actually dove to the ground, missed the prey, and flew back up to another nearby wooden post.<\/p>\n

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When the young Red-tail missed their intended prey on a second attempt, she or he flew past the front of my Jeep to continue hunting in an open field to the south.<\/p>\n

At the end of an already extremely productive and relaxing morning, this young Red-tailed Hawk was a thrill to have in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Photo taken in February of 2022.<\/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":"

The day I photographed this young Red-tailed Hawk, I took 135 images of the immature raptor in just a little over a minute at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120816,"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":[124,27,1148,449,26],"tags":[2663,4170,2497,4142,5672,4033,4169,2386,4067,12612,4104,4046,11852,153,4209,6707,373,4193],"class_list":["post-120820","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-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-close-up","tag-flats","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-old-lake-bed","tag-perched","tag-portrait","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-up-close","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-portrait-mia-mcpherson-1156.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-vqI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":125754,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/24\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-in-spring-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":120820,"position":0},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk In Spring At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"About two years ago, I photographed this immature Red-tailed Hawk near the Bear River, on my way out of the auto tour loop of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","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":"Spring immature Red-tailed Hawk in grasses, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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