{"id":15562,"date":"2014-08-05T06:12:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T12:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15562"},"modified":"2026-01-15T13:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:11:17","slug":"a-red-tailed-hawk-on-a-cold-winter-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/05\/a-red-tailed-hawk-on-a-cold-winter-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk On A Cold Winter Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on a cold winter day – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 350mm, natural light, not baited, called in or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

It hasn’t been particularly hot recently here in Utah, in fact we have been having some much needed rain, but I have found myself yearning for winter and the Red-tailed Hawks that are found in large numbers in the Great Salt Lake Valley.<\/p>\n

I photographed this particular Red-tailed Haw<\/span><\/a>k on five different days in Utah County and really enjoyed the cold, crisp mornings I had with it.<\/p>\n

I’m not so sure my fingers would agree with me though because on those mornings they were kind of numb most of the time. At any rate, as we move into the “Dog days of summer” I thought this image might be refreshing. It is for me.<\/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":"

I photographed this particular Red-tailed Hawk on five different days in Utah County and really enjoyed the cold, crisp mornings I had with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,449,26,1592],"tags":[4004,4021,4083,4170,5795,4098,4052,4122,4033,4169,2386,2057,4209,373],"class_list":["post-15562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","category-utah-county-utah","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-cold","tag-desert","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-oquirrh-mountain-range","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-mia-mcpherson-6084.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-430","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13769,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/24\/red-tailed-hawk-in-flight-near-the-oquirrh-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":15562,"position":0},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk In Flight Near The Oquirrh Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One great bird can make a day or even an entire trip worthwhile and this particular Red-tailed Hawk photographed in Utah County has made two days wonderful so far.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk in flight near the Oquirrh Mountains, Utah County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100286,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-it-is-nest-building-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":15562,"position":1},"title":"Desert Red-tailed Hawk – It Is Nest Building Time","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the birds I found was a desert dwelling Red-tailed Hawk adult who was busy refurbishing a nest on a cliff face.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face in bitter cold temps, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82025,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/22\/mated-red-tailed-hawk-pair\/","url_meta":{"origin":15562,"position":2},"title":"Mated Red-tailed Hawk Pair","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I spotted and photographed a mated Red-tailed Hawk pair on the branches of a tree in front of a cliff in early morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-tailed Hawk looking for nesting material, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-9672.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-9672.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-9672.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-9672.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":125754,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/24\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-in-spring-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":15562,"position":3},"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, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-on-the-ground-mia-mcpherson-5657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-on-the-ground-mia-mcpherson-5657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-on-the-ground-mia-mcpherson-5657.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-on-the-ground-mia-mcpherson-5657.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":111219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/15\/red-tailed-hawk-pre-lift-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":15562,"position":4},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk Pre-Lift Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been about four years since I photographed this rufous Red-tailed Hawk in in a pre-lift off pose way up in northern Utah. 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