{"id":3699,"date":"2011-11-20T15:15:13","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T22:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=3699"},"modified":"2025-09-29T07:12:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T12:12:45","slug":"more-rough-legged-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/11\/20\/more-rough-legged-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"More Rough-legged Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk in flight\u00a0–\u00a0 Nikon D300, f5.6, 1\/2500, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Since my last post about Rough-legged Hawks I have been able to find and photograph more of these handsome raptors. The Rough-legged Hawk above made a close fly by and I was able to get several images of it as it did so.<\/p>\n

At first I thought it was a gull when it was at a distance but I soon realized it was a Rough-legged Hawk and paced my shots so that my buffer would not fill up.<\/p>\n

\"Close\u00a0Close fly by from a Rough-legged Hawk – Nikon D300, f5.6, 1\/2500, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The wingspan on Rough-legged Hawks is larger than I realized at 53 inches. The Rough-legged Hawks I have seen recently have beautiful colors, from dark chocolate browns, creamy butterscotch to pale creams.<\/p>\n

I have read that these hawks are silent except for when they are on their breeding grounds, I can say I’ve never heard one make a sound here in Utah.<\/p>\n

Rough-legged Hawks hover when they are hunting prey, it is really a wonderful sight to see. They also seem to “plummet” when they are descending on their prey by partially closing the wings, it is quite different from a dive or a stoop.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk lift off from an ugly perch –\u00a0 Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 325mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn’t have the best of light when I photographed the Rough-legged Hawk above and the bird’s tail feathers and rump were damp which caused those to be a touch ratty looking.<\/p>\n

But I sure liked the wing position in this shot. I hope to get another lift off series where a Roughie is on a natural or more appealing perch.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk perched on an old fence post – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days later I was able to photographed this Rough-legged Hawk while it sat on a fence post. My Exposure compensation was up a bit too high because I’d been photographing this hawk in the sky before it landed but I was able to bring the exposure down in post processing so that the whites weren’t blown out.<\/p>\n

After the hawk left this perch it dropped down on the ground not far from the post and I took some would-have-been wonderful frame filling\u00a0shots of it on the ground\u00a0except for the fence that was between the bird and I.<\/p>\n

Being a bird photographer can be frustrating that way.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-legged\u00a0Rough-legged Hawk in flight with the Stansbury Mountains in the background\u00a0 –\u00a0 Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 228mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this Rough-legged Hawk two days ago while in Tooele County looking for raptors to photograph, it had landed in a field close by. I zoomed back so that I could get a lift off shot without clipping the wings.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I zoomed back just a little too much, but I’m very fond of images that show birds in their natural habitat and this one does that quite well.<\/p>\n

I have been very pleased to add so many images of Rough-legged Hawks<\/span><\/a> to my portfolio in just the past week and hopefully these hawks will stick around until late February of next year so there will be many more opportunities.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I have been very pleased to add so many images of Rough-legged Hawks to my portfolio in just the past week and hopefully these Roughies will stick around until late February of next year so there will be many more opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158446,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,27,1022,1087,358,26],"tags":[2663,4275,2497,11978,4052,4169,4067,4282,2670,4069,1107,4104,153,1648,4210,4193],"class_list":["post-3699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-desert-island","tag-flight","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-lift-off","tag-light-morph","tag-mountains","tag-natural-habitat","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-stansbury-mountains","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t