{"id":16214,"date":"2014-10-20T05:22:03","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T11:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=16214"},"modified":"2025-10-05T14:30:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T19:30:58","slug":"juvenile-dark-morph-harlans-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/20\/juvenile-dark-morph-harlans-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Dark Morph Harlan’s Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile dark morph Harlan’s Hawk – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Harlan’s Hawks breed in Alaska and northern Canada and spend their winters in the northern Great Plains.<\/p>\n

Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk is a subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk with distinct characteristics that set it apart from other Red-tailed Hawk subspecies.<\/p>\n

Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk come in three morphs:<\/p>\n

Dark morph: This is the most common type, making up approximately 55-60% of the Harlan’s Hawk population.
\nIntermediate morph: This is the second most common, comprising about 30-35% of the population.
\nLight morph: This is the rarest form, accounting for only about 5-10% of Harlan’s Hawks.<\/p>\n

Lately I have been seeing reports that the Harlan’s have started to show up here in Utah again to over winter and that has me excited. I haven’t been able to photograph many Harlan’s Hawks but in January of 2013 I spotted and pointed out this juvenile dark morph Harlan’s feeding on a coot at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n

This was during a very cold and snowy part of the winter when all of the raptors were having a hard time finding food to sustain them because of heavy snow cover on the ground.<\/p>\n

Quite a few hawks, eagles, and owls died during that cold stretch of time due to the harsh conditions we had.<\/p>\n

I will be looking for Harlan’s Hawks now along with Rough-legged Hawks which are also Arctic breeders and hope to photograph some of them soon.<\/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":"

Harlan’s Hawks are a subspecies of Red-tailed Hawks that breed in Alaska and northern Canada and spend their winters in the northern Great Plains. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137530,"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":[137,27,1022,697,2086,449,26],"tags":[4010,4021,2663,4170,2705,2772,4530,4286,5025,4121,4542,4169,4071,4094,4106,153,4209,4050,2239,373,4193],"class_list":["post-16214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-harlans-hawk","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-american-coot","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteo-jamaicensis-harlani","tag-coot","tag-dark-morph","tag-eating","tag-feathers","tag-fulica-americana","tag-harlans-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-juvenile","tag-marsh","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-snow","tag-sub-adult","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-harlans-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3760.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4dw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7227,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/23\/harlans-hawk-juvenile-with-an-american-coot-graphic\/","url_meta":{"origin":16214,"position":0},"title":"Harlan’s Hawk Juvenile With An American Coot (Graphic)","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't had many opportunities to photograph the Harlan's subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk so I was thrilled yesterday when I spotted a juvenile dark morph Harlan's Hawk feeding on a dead American Coot on the bank of a creek.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harlan\u2019s Hawk juvenile, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-harlans-mia-mcpherson-3978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-harlans-mia-mcpherson-3978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.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-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":16214,"position":3},"title":"Desert Red-tailed Hawk Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was up in far northern Utah looking for birds last week, I took quite a few Red-tailed Hawk photos. I shared one image a few days ago and here are a few more.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk taking off from a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139181,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/03\/red-tailed-hawk-flying-over-bakers-field-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":16214,"position":4},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk flying over Baker’s Field at Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago, I wrote about the hawks at Baker's Field in Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. Today, I'm sharing photos of a Red-tailed Hawk flying there.","rel":"","context":"In "Oklahoma"","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk flying over Baker's Field at Sequoyah NWR, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2831.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-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2831.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2831.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-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2831.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":16214,"position":5},"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. This pose can be hard to capture.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk in pre-lift off position, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.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\/16214","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=16214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}