{"id":51865,"date":"2018-04-28T05:22:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T11:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51865"},"modified":"2025-05-25T09:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T14:18:10","slug":"surprise-coopers-hawk-in-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/28\/surprise-coopers-hawk-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Cooper’s Hawk in the Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cooper'sCooper’s Hawk perched on an old fence post – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There are days when one bird can “make” the day great for me as a bird photographer, yesterday that bird was a Cooper’s Hawk in a Wasatch Mountain canyon east of Salt Lake City. The rest of the morning was pretty much a bust bird wise so I am grateful for the few seconds I had with this hawk.<\/p>\n

For various reasons I very rarely have opportunities with these hawks so when I do I like to take full advantage of my time with them. When this Cooper’s Hawk landed on the gnarly old fence post in morning light I was delighted, the hawk was busy looking around and I could hear little birds and ground squirrels calling out in alarm. I knew that the hawk could take off any second so I fired several bursts as it perched on the post.<\/p>\n

\"StaringStaring Cooper’s Hawk – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately I missed the take off shot that happened right after I took this photo but I’m happy for the few seconds I had with this hawk. I looked for it on my way out of the canyon but it must have decided to hunt for breakfast somewhere else. At any rate a Cooper’s Hawk in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> was a true delight for me and saved the day.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

There are days when one bird can “make” the day great for me as a bird photographer, yesterday that bird was a Cooper’s Hawk in a Wasatch Mountain canyon east of Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147010,"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":[27,5715,1731,26,773],"tags":[5397,4004,5717,2663,3940,5716,898,4033,4169,2386,4099,4069,4104,165,5875,8917],"class_list":["post-51865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-coopers-hawks","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-accipiters","tag-adult","tag-astur-cooperii","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-canyon","tag-coopers-hawk","tag-fence-post","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-morning-light","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-spring","tag-staring","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/coopers-hawk-perched-mia-mcpherson-6583.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dux","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":124590,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/17\/coopers-hawk-nearly-hidden-and-in-plain-sight\/","url_meta":{"origin":51865,"position":0},"title":"Cooper’s 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