{"id":47510,"date":"2017-07-01T05:34:18","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T11:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47510"},"modified":"2026-01-18T11:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:38:22","slug":"red-tailed-hawk-fledglings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-fledglings\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk Fledglings And Some Sad News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FledglingFledgling Red-tailed Hawk siblings on the ground – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I am going to get the sad news out of the way straight off. Yesterday I found one of the Red-tailed Hawk chicks from the nest that had blown down<\/span><\/a> dead along side of the road. I presume that the young hawk had been struck by a vehicle. The other two young Red-tailed Hawks were fine. I hate seeing things like this and although I did take a few photos of the deceased chick I won’t post them here on my blog. I still know that leaving the chicks with the adults instead of taking them to a rescue facility was the best choice to make but I felt sad and deflated after find the hawk’s body.<\/p>\n

However; later on I spotted two of the other Red-tailed Hawk chicks that I have been following since early spring and was delighted that they have now fledged and have both learned to fly. Or maybe a better way of putting it is that they are learning how to fly and to get where they want to be.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk fledgling getting its balance – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

At first the two Red-tailed Hawk fledglings were side by side but after a bit this one walked away from its sibling and decided to perch on a fallen branch. It had a little bit of trouble a few times maintaining its balance but that gave me a great view of the underside of its wings.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Red-tailed Hawk in the grasses – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 250, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The other fledgling stayed where it was for quite some time, looking about, preening a bit and then looking around some more.<\/p>\n

\"PreeningPreening Red-tailed Hawk fledgling – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/640, ISO 250, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

By walking up the hillside the other fledgling was able to take flight twice to get to this lichen covered rock at the edge of the cliff and it settled down and began to preen its feathers. Watching it I realized that young Red-tailed Hawks can amuse me with some of the expressions I see and perceive them to make.<\/p>\n

\"OverOver the shoulder look from a Red-tailed Hawk fledgling – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

And this over the shoulder look from the young hawk made me laugh. I needed to laugh after what I had seen earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Red-tailed Hawk preening on a lichen encrusted rock – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It felt good to know that these two Red-tailed Hawks had fledged and were doing well. Both of them had even seemed to hunt around on the ground for a bit. Just a few weeks ago they were little white balls of fluff with wobbly heads in a nest. Look at them now.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk fledgling walking in a cliff – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The other Red-tailed Hawk fledgling became more active as its sibling preened and it also walked up the hillside before taking flight and landing up on the cliff. I have to say their flight isn’t as graceful as an adult Red-tailed Hawk’s flight yet but they are figuring out how to get where they want to go.<\/p>\n

\"FledglingFledgling Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It isn’t easy for young Red-tailed Hawks<\/span><\/a> during their first year of life, not easy at all, but these two look like they are doing well.<\/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 spotted two of the other Red-tailed Hawk chicks that I have been following since early spring and was delighted that they have now fledged and have both learned to fly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130764,"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":[5944,2663,4170,2497,5131,4098,4141,644,5943,4169,4067,4071,4019,153,5414,4209,4156,2315,4236,4193],"class_list":["post-47510","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-balance","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-cliff","tag-desert","tag-fledgling","tag-fledglings","tag-ground","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-preening-2","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-resting","tag-summer-3","tag-walking","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-fledgling-mia-mcpherson-5318.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cmi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71865,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/13\/recently-fledged-red-tailed-hawks-from-two-nests\/","url_meta":{"origin":47510,"position":0},"title":"Recently 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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. I shared one image a few days ago and here are a few more.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk taking off from a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.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-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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