{"id":1985,"date":"2011-03-02T05:43:28","date_gmt":"2011-03-02T12:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2025-12-14T06:09:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:09:40","slug":"red-tailed-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/03\/02\/red-tailed-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR w\/1.4 TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday\u00a0I headed west of Salt Lake City to see what birds could be found to photograph because the day before when it was gorgeous weather and great light I was stuck indoors all day long.\u00a0The temperature reached 52 degrees and\u00a0it felt like\u00a0spring is about to arrive.<\/p>\n

During the winter many of the raptors in the Wasatch Range that prefer higher country come down into the Salt Lake Valley and in the spring they begin to return to higher elevations. Yesterday I saw a Red-tailed Hawk up higher in the Stansbury Mountains than I have seen all winter so I thought I’d post these two young hawks.<\/p>\n

Red-tailed Hawks are North America’s most variable hawk and can show great geographic variation. They can be spotted in every state of the continental U.S. perching on power poles, fence posts or at the top of trees.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Red-tailed perched on an old fencepost – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

When I think of the calls of raptors the Red-tailed Hawks call is the one I think of first, it is distinctive and I can identify the sound without seeing the hawk.<\/p>\n

I’m looking forward to seeing Red-tailed Hawks<\/span><\/a> in the high country of Utah and Montana this summer and hopefully getting some more images of both the juveniles and adult.<\/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’m looking forward to seeing red-tailed hawks in the high country of Utah and Montana this summer and hopefully getting some more images of both the juveniles and adult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":165846,"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":[27,697,449,358,26],"tags":[4170,4098,898,4033,4169,2386,4067,4071,4104,153,4209,4018,4427,30,4193],"class_list":["post-1985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-desert","tag-fence-post","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sky","tag-tree","tag-utah-2","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-3408.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-w1","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":1985,"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, 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":108353,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/28\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-head-on-stare\/","url_meta":{"origin":1985,"position":1},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk Head On Stare","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If I were a vole, I'd tremble in fear under the head on stare of this immature Red-tailed Hawk that I photographed last week at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk head on stare, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.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":1985,"position":2},"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, 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