{"id":39950,"date":"2016-06-10T06:35:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-10T12:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=39950"},"modified":"2021-09-23T14:36:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T20:36:46","slug":"low-light-ferruginous-hawk-in-flight-with-nesting-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/10\/low-light-ferruginous-hawk-in-flight-with-nesting-material\/","title":{"rendered":"Low light Ferruginous Hawk in Flight with Nesting Material"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FerruginousFerruginous Hawk in flight with nesting materials – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Four days ago I was on the west side of the Centennial Valley in Beaverhead County, Montana hoping to find some birds to photograph and I did find a mated pair of Ferruginous Hawks attempting to build a nest… all in low light. Ferruginous Hawks are a favorite of mine because they are large, beautiful and as their scientific name suggests, regal.<\/p>\n

Although I would have preferred better light conditions than I had any time I have a Ferruginous in sight I will attempt to get images of them. This pair of Ferruginous Hawks puzzles me though because I have seen nesting building attempts at this same location for years and never<\/span> a nest. There are power poles with one cross bar in a row that aren’t truly suitable for these hawks to build nests on, the area around the poles is flat sagebrush steppe for a long distance and the closest trees are a couple of miles away.\u00a0But nearly every year I see a pair of Ferruginous Hawks in this same area looking like they are trying to build a nest. They bring the nesting materials to the power poles but always drop the material from the poles to the ground below.\u00a0 The odd thing is that I usually see young Ferrugs in this same area later on in the year.<\/p>\n

I was able to create several images of this Ferruginous Hawk in flight with nesting materials over a field of sage and lupines despite the low light. I was pleased that the hawk was as sharp as it is given the conditions and that I even captured light in the hawk’s eye. I’m also glad I that in this frame it shows the sagebrush habitat where I often find these large hawks. They are another bird species for whom we need to do our best to protect the sagebrush sea in order for this species to continue to thrive.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I was able to create several images of this Ferruginous Hawk in flight with nesting materials over a field of sage and lupines despite the low light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95524,"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":[1513,27,223,1069,12],"tags":[4004,2663,4268,2092,4052,4122,4169,2237,2670,156,4025,4182,153,2817,4057,5186,2660,165,5434],"class_list":["post-39950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-ferruginous-hawks","category-montana","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-regalis","tag-ferruginous-hawk","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-light-morph","tag-low-light-2","tag-lupines","tag-nesting-material","tag-raptors","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-sagebrush-sea","tag-sagebrush-steppe","tag-spring","tag-valley"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-nesting-materials-mia-mcpherson-2713.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aom","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5946,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/18\/ferruginous-hawk-in-beaverhead-county-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":39950,"position":0},"title":"Ferruginous Hawk in Beaverhead County, Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America. They inhabit low elevation, open areas in the western United States and some locations in southwestern Canada and winter in southwestern US and Mexico.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Ferruginous Hawk in flight, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-5583.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-5583.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-5583.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-5583.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9112,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/06\/what-is-the-last-thing-a-jackrabbit-might-see-a-ferruginous-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":39950,"position":1},"title":"What Is The Last Thing A Jackrabbit Might See – A Ferruginous Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Ferruginous Hawks west of the Continental Divide prefer rabbits as prey so what you see here might be the last thing a Cottontail or Jackrabbit might see.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Ferruginous Hawk gliding in for a landing, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-6400.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-6400.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-6400.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-6400.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8529,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/06\/ferruginous-hawk-in-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":39950,"position":2},"title":"Ferruginous Hawk in Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Ferruginous Hawks fascinate me, they are large, handsome and regal raptors. This one just appears to me to be surveying its kingdom from the top of a ranch gate in the Centennial Valley.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Royal Ferruginous Hawk surveying its kingdom, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-8604.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-8604.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-mia-mcpherson-8604.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108965,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/23\/immature-ferruginous-hawk-in-december\/","url_meta":{"origin":39950,"position":3},"title":"Immature Ferruginous Hawk In December","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was overjoyed to see an immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk in my viewfinder four years ago in December while I was out in Utah's West Desert.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Light morph Ferruginous Hawk with its eyes on the clouds, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ferruginous-hawk-eyes-on-the-clouds-mia-mcpherson-5001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ferruginous-hawk-eyes-on-the-clouds-mia-mcpherson-5001.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ferruginous-hawk-eyes-on-the-clouds-mia-mcpherson-5001.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/ferruginous-hawk-eyes-on-the-clouds-mia-mcpherson-5001.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7286,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/27\/immature-red-tailed-rough-legged-ferruginous-and-swainsons-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":39950,"position":4},"title":"Immature Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I thought I would post images of the juvenile Buteos that I see most often in Utah and Montana, they are Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Ferruginous and Swainson's Hawks.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk juvenile and an intense stare, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.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-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118517,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/24\/dark-morph-ferruginous-hawk-in-the-west-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":39950,"position":5},"title":"Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk In The West Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Four years ago today, I found this gorgeous dark morph Ferruginous Hawk perched on a juniper fence post in the West Desert. 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