{"id":42243,"date":"2016-09-27T05:31:33","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T11:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=42243"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:40:29","slug":"red-tailed-hawk-nesting-maintenance-behavior-in-the-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/27\/red-tailed-hawk-nesting-maintenance-behavior-in-the-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk Nesting Maintenance Behavior in the Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk in flight with nesting materials in the Fall – Nikon D810, f10, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Last October I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk soaring over Farmington Bay WMA and with my naked eyes it appeared to be carrying something and when I trained my lens on the hawk I could see that it had a twig grasped in its bill.<\/p>\n

It seemed a little odd to me that a Red-tailed Hawk would be gathering nesting material in the fall but about that time a friend came up to talk and I stopped photographing the hawk. There was a nest in a tree not far from where I photographed this hawk.<\/p>\n

Later I spoke with Jerry Liguori; who is a friend, raptor expert, and author, and when I explained what I had seen he said that sometimes in the fall pairs of Red-tailed Hawks do nesting maintenance. I processed this image last fall but didn’t post it because the hawk was so far away.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk in its nest in the Fall – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I was out looking for birds in Box Elder County and enjoying the bright morning when I saw a pair of Red-tailed Hawks perched on rocky outcroppings but I passed them by because they were on the wrong side of my Jeep and they were a bit far away. I also thought they might be closer when I came back up the road.<\/p>\n

Later when I headed back that way I was at first disappointed because I didn’t see the hawks but when I rounded the edge of the cliff I saw both birds in flight and both of them had nesting materials.<\/p>\n

I quickly pulled over to the shoulder of the road but missed this Red-tailed Hawk flying into the nest with twigs in its bill. I watched the other hawk circle above and then this hawk took off and landed on the hillside and appeared to be searching for nesting materials.<\/p>\n

I was fighting mosquitoes again and missed it taking off with a branch it had grabbed from the ground.<\/p>\n

I didn’t want to have my presence affect the nesting maintenance behavior of the pair of Red-tailed Hawks so I left them to do what comes natural to them.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk with nesting material in Autumn – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

About 18 miles from where I photographed the Red-tailed Hawk in its nest I came across another Red-tailed perched on a tall pole.<\/p>\n

When I put my lens on it the hawk picked up a branch with leaves on it and I took a few images of it before it lifted off and flew to a tree where I knew I’d seen a nest earlier this year.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed seeing the Red-tailed Hawks<\/span><\/a> yesterday and observing their nesting maintenance behavior in the Fall, I don’t see it very often so it makes it special to me.<\/p>\n

Red-tailed Hawks keep busy maintaining their nests, either fixing up an old pile of sticks or starting from scratch in tall trees, on cliffs, or even on towers.<\/p>\n

Both parents pitch in, bringing twigs, bark, and fresh greenery beginning in late winter to early spring to create a softer interior.<\/p>\n

They can be touchy about disturbances early on, but once eggs are in the nest, their commitment locks in, and many pairs return to the same sites year after year.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to see more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed seeing the Red-tailed Hawks yesterday and observing their nesting maintenance behavior in the Fall, I don’t see it very often so it makes it special to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133721,"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":[27,1148,1022,697,449,26],"tags":[4004,970,4226,2663,5131,4620,4052,4122,4033,4169,2386,4075,473,5445,153,4209],"class_list":["post-42243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-behavior","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-cliff","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-nest","tag-nesting-behavior-2","tag-nesting-maintenance","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-aZl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56673,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/17\/nesting-red-tailed-hawks-plus-guidelines-on-photographing-nesting-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":42243,"position":0},"title":"Nesting 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