{"id":47440,"date":"2017-06-25T04:29:13","date_gmt":"2017-06-25T10:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47440"},"modified":"2026-01-18T11:58:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:58:52","slug":"female-red-tailed-hawk-brings-a-duckling-to-its-chicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/25\/female-red-tailed-hawk-brings-a-duckling-to-its-chicks\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Red-tailed Hawk Brings A Duckling To Its Chicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk flying in with a duckling – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

A few days ago I saw an adult Red-tailed Hawk fly towards its nest with prey for its chicks, the prey was a duckling. There is a marshy area nearby and the female Red-tailed must have found the chick there, scooped it up and then took flight to bring it to its chicks.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk chick taking duckling from adult – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The largest looking chick in the nest seemed determined to grab the duckling from the adult’s talons and for a little while there was a bit of a tug of war before the adult released the duckling from its talons while the other two chicks looked on.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk chick eating the duckling – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Red-tailed Hawk chick did eventually swallow the duckling whole. The chick that it on the left tried to nibble on the duckling but didn’t succeed in taking it from its sibling.<\/p>\n

What I couldn’t see was that there was also a mammal of some kind in the nest already and the adult Red-tailed Hawk tore it to bits later and fed it to the smallest chick on the left. It appeared to be the youngest of the brood and still needed help eating.<\/p>\n

It won’t be long before these Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> chicks spread their wings, fledge, and leave their nest. The first year is the toughest year for raptors and I wish them the best.<\/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":"

A few days ago I saw an adult Red-tailed Hawk fly towards its nest with prey for its chicks, the prey was a duckling. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134309,"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":[4004,2663,4170,4134,4068,4098,5259,4286,4070,4052,4122,1130,4033,4169,2386,4075,153,4209,2315],"class_list":["post-47440","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-chick","tag-chicks","tag-desert","tag-duckling","tag-eating","tag-female","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-food","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-nest","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-duckling-mia-mcpherson-1912.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cla","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100286,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-it-is-nest-building-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":47440,"position":0},"title":"Desert 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk chick on the ground, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-chick-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-chick-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-chick-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-chick-mia-mcpherson-8281.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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