{"id":27397,"date":"2015-08-12T06:57:32","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T12:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27397"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:43:19","slug":"red-tailed-hawks-near-the-promontory-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/12\/red-tailed-hawks-near-the-promontory-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawks Near The Promontory Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk perched on a lichen covered boulder – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I spent the morning in Box Elder County driving along the Promontory Mountain Range and Red-tailed Hawks were the most numerous raptors I saw.<\/p>\n

I was very pleased to come across this Red-tailed Hawk perched on a huge lichen covered boulder in a breeze.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk near the Promontory Mountains – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Just before the Red-tailed Hawk took flight I switched to full frame (FX) mode on my D810 because I wanted a wider view of the bird in its habitat than I was getting by using cropped sensor (DX) mode.<\/p>\n

With a bird in flight or a bird with a background that appears all silky because of the bokeh it is hard to get the feeling of the habitat but in this frame that habitat is very apparent.<\/p>\n

\"PortraitPortrait of a Red-tailed Hawk in Box Elder County – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

As I was heading north I came across this Red-tailed Hawk on a power pole that was very cooperative. The road was close to the pole and even when I pulled way off the shoulder I could not fit the whole bird in the frame so I decided to take portraits of it.<\/p>\n

If I had stayed further south or north of this hawk to allow for room to capture the hawk in flight I would have had crappy light on the bird and I would have come home with images I just would have deleted.<\/p>\n

I have no doubt that I made the right choice. I enjoyed seeing and photographing the Red-tailed Hawks<\/span><\/a> near the Promontory Mountains.<\/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":"

Yesterday I spent the morning in Box Elder County driving along the Promontory Mountain Range and Red-tailed Hawks were the most numerous raptors I saw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166936,"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":[27,1148,449,26],"tags":[4004,2663,4170,2497,4142,4098,4033,4169,2386,3291,4046,153,4209,2239,2315],"class_list":["post-27397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-close-up","tag-desert","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lichen","tag-portrait","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sub-adult","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-4156.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-77T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":27397,"position":0},"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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in far northern Utah last week, the first bird I photographed was this immature Red-tailed Hawk that seemed to have a surly attitude about it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Surly looking immature Red-tailed Hawk, 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-1421.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-1421.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-1421.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on a lichen covered boulder in Idaho I took a little over 160 frames of it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk on a lichen covered boulder, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-rock-mia-mcpherson-2054.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-rock-mia-mcpherson-2054.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-rock-mia-mcpherson-2054.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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