{"id":17174,"date":"2014-11-21T04:30:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T11:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=17174"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:01:36","slug":"red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-in-flight-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/21\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-in-flight-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk Juvenile In Flight In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I’m looking forward to snowy, wintry days but that can bring low light, fog and challenging conditions for bird photography here in Utah. As much as I love that “sweet light” bird photographers seek I also enjoy images created in less than ideal lighting conditions.<\/p>\n

Just before Christmas last year this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was a very cooperative subject as it stayed close to the road and hunted in the deep snow at Farmington Bay WMA. The only problem? Low light caused by fog, falling snow, and clouds overhead.<\/p>\n

I could not resist photographing the young Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> though as it lifted off and flew in front of me after prey even though conditions were not ideal. As it turns out the series I took of this raptor were my favorites from that day.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Life is even better with birds.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I could not resist photographing the young Red-tailed Hawk though as it lifted off and flew in front of me after prey even though conditions were not ideal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166895,"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":[27,1022,697,150,449,26],"tags":[4021,2663,4170,4052,4122,4175,4033,4169,1123,4067,4071,156,4209,4050,373,4193],"class_list":["post-17174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-diurnal-raptors","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-fog","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-high-key-2","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-low-light-2","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-snow","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-1346.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4t0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12635,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/01\/04\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light-conditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":17174,"position":0},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk Juvenile In Low Light Conditions","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the winter I shoot a lot in fog, smog and low light conditions here in northern Utah but if you follow my blog you probably already know that and have heard me mention it a time or two (or four or a hundred).","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk juvenile in low light conditions, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-fly-by-mia-mcpherson-1390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-fly-by-mia-mcpherson-1390.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark juvenile Red-tailed Hawk lifting off, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-dark-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9783.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-dark-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9783.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-dark-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9783.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-dark-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9783.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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McPherson","date":"January 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Through the steamy mists of a hot spring I found a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Blue Creek Spring in Box Elder County and I hoped to get a few decent images of it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk juvenile rousing next to a hot springs, Blue Creek Spring, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-hot-springs-mia-mcpherson-2954.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-hot-springs-mia-mcpherson-2954.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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