{"id":44360,"date":"2017-01-13T06:27:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T13:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=44360"},"modified":"2026-01-16T13:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T19:12:55","slug":"photographing-a-red-tailed-hawk-at-farmington-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/01\/13\/photographing-a-red-tailed-hawk-at-farmington-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographing a Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost three years ago today I spent time photographing a Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay that was hunting in a snowy field while using a nest box as a perch to watch for prey.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on a nest box at Farmington Bay – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Red-tailed Hawk wasn’t quite fully grown, even though it had the red tail of an adult it still had the light colored eyes of a young bird instead of the dark eyes of an adult. I’d call it a sub-adult.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on a snowy field – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Red-tailed Hawk perched on top of the nest box over the snowy field and when it located prey it would lift off and fly towards the prey. While I photographed this hawk I see it successfully catch prey once.<\/p>\n

The heavy cover of snow on the ground may have been an obstacle, it is for many birds of prey at this time of the year.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk drying its feathers – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

One time when the hawk returned to its perch on the nest box it shook and then spread its tail out to dry and by doing so it gave me a great view of the dark bands of its red tail.<\/p>\n

The out of focus snow-covered Wasatch Mountain Range behind the hawk made for a nice background.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk yawning on a nest box – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> yawned a couple of times while basking in the bright morning sun before it flew north and I left the hawk to head home. Some times I wonder if this same hawk shows up at Farmington Bay during the winter, who knows, maybe it does.<\/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":"

Almost three years ago today I spent time photographing a Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay that was hunting in a snowy field while using a nest box as a perch to watch for prey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142120,"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":[27,1022,697,449,26],"tags":[2663,4170,5596,4169,2386,2279,4104,8301,8300,153,5130,4209,4050,2239,1164,373,340],"class_list":["post-44360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-drying","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-nest-box","tag-perched","tag-photograph","tag-photographing","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-snow","tag-sub-adult","tag-wasatch-mountain-range","tag-winter","tag-yawning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/red-tailed-hawk-yawning-nest-box-mia-mcpherson-4806.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bxu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107272,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/15\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-with-mountains-in-the-background\/","url_meta":{"origin":44360,"position":0},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk With Mountains In The Background","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My best bird photos from yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA were of an immature Red-tailed Hawk with the shadowed Wasatch Mountain slopes in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk on a nest box in early morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.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-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"October 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I took a few long distance photos of this Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA because of the fall colors in the Wasatch Mountains in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk in front of the Wasatch Mountains, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-fall-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-fall-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk in its nest in the Fall, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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