{"id":38622,"date":"2016-04-20T05:17:23","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T11:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=38622"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:20:45","slug":"cliff-face-and-a-banking-red-tailed-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/20\/cliff-face-and-a-banking-red-tailed-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliff Face and a Banking Red-tailed Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BankingBanking Red-tailed Hawk adult – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I love to watch Red-tailed Hawks in flight and to see them bank, turn, dive and ride the thermals. I can’t help but envy their total and completely unfettered freedom.<\/p>\n

Two days ago I watched a pair of Red-tailed Hawks building a nest in a area with wildflowers in bloom on cliff faces, lichen and some type of moss.<\/p>\n

The out of focus yellow flowers in the background of this photo are Gray’s Biscuitroot (Lomatium grayi<\/em>).<\/p>\n

This banking Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> is one of the pair that are busy building their nest and making nearby forays to find nesting materials.<\/p>\n

Hopefully; guided by their instincts, they will be able to raise their brood successfully this season and produce strong and healthy young.<\/p>\n

The area they have chosen seems to have an abundance of natural prey to feed their chicks when they hatch. Time will tell. I will check in on them once in a while to see. I won’t visit often because I don’t like disturbing nesting birds.<\/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":"

This banking Red-tailed Hawk is one of the pair that are busy building their nest and making nearby forays to find nesting materials. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166980,"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":[1148,449,26],"tags":[4004,4476,2663,4170,5100,4098,513,4033,4169,2386,2175,11852,153,4209,165,1949],"class_list":["post-38622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-banking","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-cliff-face","tag-desert","tag-grays-biscuitroot","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lomatium-grayi","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-spring","tag-western-red-tailed-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-box-elder-county-mia-mcpherson-9596.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-a2W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57738,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/10\/male-red-tailed-hawk-with-yellow-wildflowers\/","url_meta":{"origin":38622,"position":0},"title":"Male Red-tailed Hawk With Yellow Wildflowers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"What is better than photographing a male Red-tailed Hawk? Photographing the hawk with blooming wildflowers, in this case Gray's Biscuitroot.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-tailed Hawk with yellow wildflowers, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-male-grays-biscuitroot-mia-mcpherson-1932.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-male-grays-biscuitroot-mia-mcpherson-1932.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-male-grays-biscuitroot-mia-mcpherson-1932.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-male-grays-biscuitroot-mia-mcpherson-1932.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100286,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-it-is-nest-building-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":38622,"position":1},"title":"Desert Red-tailed Hawk – It Is Nest Building Time","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the birds I found was a desert dwelling Red-tailed Hawk adult who was busy refurbishing a nest on a cliff face.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face in bitter cold temps, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45984,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/04\/red-tailed-hawks-on-cliff-faces\/","url_meta":{"origin":38622,"position":2},"title":"Red-tailed Hawks On Cliff Faces","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I appreciate it when I can photograph Red-tailed Hawks on Cliff faces well away from the man made objects including power poles and wires, fence posts and barbed wire","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk on a lichen covered cliff face, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-lichen-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8841.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-lichen-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8841.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-lichen-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8841.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-lichen-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8841.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":38622,"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, 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Begun!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The female Red-tailed Hawk blended into the lichen covered cliff face so well that even with my sharp eyesight I didn't see her until the male landed next to her.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Red-tailed Hawk leaping off of a cliff face, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/red-tailed-hawk-female-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-9472.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/red-tailed-hawk-female-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-9472.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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