{"id":45984,"date":"2017-04-04T05:31:28","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T11:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=45984"},"modified":"2026-01-17T06:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:02:20","slug":"red-tailed-hawks-on-cliff-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/04\/red-tailed-hawks-on-cliff-faces\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawks On Cliff Faces"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on a lichen covered cliff face – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This Red-tailed Hawk landed on a lichen-covered cliff face in northern Utah near the end of last month and although the setting was rather busy I still liked this photo.<\/p>\n

This probably isn’t the kind of photo that I’d see on the glossy pages of a magazine or in a field guide but to me this shows the hawk in its natural habitat and it blends right in to the cliff face.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on a cliff face nest – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This hawk and its mate chose a cliff face to build their nest and if you didn’t already know where the nest was you could drive past it and never know it was there. I stopped and took only a few photos of this Red-tailed Hawk on this nest before heading down the road.<\/p>\n

Even though this pair of hawks is used to traffic rumbling down the road I want to keep my part of any disturbance to this nest and pair of hawks to a minimum. The photos are never as important as the well being of the subject or subjects.<\/p>\n

I liked how the Red-tailed Hawk stood out from the cliff in this photo, how the shadow of the hawk fell on the cliff face, and that the fine details and textures in the rock stood out well.<\/p>\n

I appreciate it when I can photograph Red-tailed Hawks<\/span><\/a> on cliff faces well away from the man made objects including power poles and wires, fence posts, and barbed wire because the hawks seem much more at home and at ease in their natural environment.<\/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":"

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167077,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,449,26],"tags":[4004,2663,4170,5100,4098,4169,2386,3291,5771,4075,11852,153,5201,4209,165],"class_list":["post-45984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-cliff-face","tag-desert","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lichen","tag-lichen-covered","tag-nest","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail-hawk","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-lichen-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8841.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bXG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":45984,"position":0},"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. 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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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/red-tailed-hawk-female-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-9472.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/red-tailed-hawk-female-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-9472.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57507,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/28\/male-red-tailed-hawk-resting-on-a-desert-cliff\/","url_meta":{"origin":45984,"position":2},"title":"Male Red-tailed Hawk Resting On A Desert Cliff","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The best bird I spotted that I could photograph was a male Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face and what I loved about this photo was all the grasses, lichen, wildflowers and the sage high up on the cliff.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face in spring, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-5607.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-5607.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-5607.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-5607.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56673,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/17\/nesting-red-tailed-hawks-plus-guidelines-on-photographing-nesting-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":45984,"position":3},"title":"Nesting Red-tailed Hawks – Plus Guidelines On Photographing Nesting Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm happy to see that the rufous female Red-tailed Hawk does have a mate and that they are building a nest to raise their young in, I hope they are successful.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a male Red-tailed Hawk in flight, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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McPherson","date":"October 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I almost missed finding this adult dark morph Red-tailed Hawk last Sunday because when I first spotted the hawk he was behind a tree in dark shadows but I recognized the shape and form of the raptor.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk flying to a higher cliff face, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-female-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-7784.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-female-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-7784.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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