{"id":46501,"date":"2017-04-30T05:04:38","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T11:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46501"},"modified":"2026-01-18T11:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:04:04","slug":"red-tailed-hawk-on-a-rocky-perch-in-northern-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/30\/red-tailed-hawk-on-a-rocky-perch-in-northern-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk on a Rocky Perch in Northern Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on a rocky perch – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

There is nothing special about this photo of a Red-tailed Hawk on a rocky perch that I photographed yesterday in northern Utah but I quite like it for its simplicity. It is just a hawk doing what hawks do.<\/p>\n

I like the lichen and grass covered rocky perch, the eye contact I had with the hawk and the simple out of focus background that is actually a distant mountain slope.<\/p>\n

Also, I like how some of the colors of the hawk’s plumage seem to be echoed in the bits of lichen and how the soft grasses break up the hard features of the rocks.<\/p>\n

I was only able to get a few images of the hawk on this rocky perch before it flew to a nearby juniper and landed on the top.<\/p>\n

After I took quite a few images there before the Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> lifted off from it and while it was in the air it caught the attention of a male Northern Harrier and an aerial dogfight began.<\/p>\n

Only the dogfight was too far away to get high quality images of the two raptors spinning, fighting, and twisting in the air.<\/p>\n

Oh well, it isn’t always about the photos for me, sometimes it is just about being out there enjoying nature, watching birds, and savoring being alive.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

There is nothing special about this photo of a Red-tailed Hawk on a rock perch that I photographed yesterday in northern Utah but I quite like it for its simplicity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167140,"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":[4004,2663,4170,4098,4109,4033,4169,2386,9979,1549,17084,153,5414,5201,4209,5699,165],"class_list":["post-46501","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-desert","tag-grasses","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lichens","tag-perch","tag-ranchands","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail","tag-red-tail-hawk","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rocky","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-perched-mia-mcpherson-6111.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-c61","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46745,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/14\/windy-day-red-tailed-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":46501,"position":0},"title":"Windy 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