{"id":52051,"date":"2018-05-09T05:17:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T11:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52051"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:45:12","slug":"rufous-morph-red-tailed-hawk-finally-some-photos-in-good-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/09\/rufous-morph-red-tailed-hawk-finally-some-photos-in-good-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Rufous Morph Red-tailed Hawk – Finally Some Photos in Good Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BigBig Red-tailed Hawk lifting off – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I have been trying to photograph this rufous morph Red-tailed Hawk in good light since the first time I spotted her on the 24th of March in northern Utah, yesterday I finally accomplished that goal.<\/p>\n

This Red-tailed Hawk is big, red, and beautiful. She was perched on some rocks when I first saw her and by the time I could lock on to her she was lifting off from a lichen encrusted rock that had the same rufous red tones as her plumage.<\/p>\n

\"BeautifulBeautiful Red-tailed Hawk obtaining flight – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first found her on the 24th of March I suspected that she was nesting near this same area where I found her yesterday and since then I have seen her on the nest a few times while driving south on the road.<\/p>\n

These photos all show messy feathers on her belly where her brood patch is. Messy perhaps but I can’t tell you how excited I was to photograph her in good light for a change.<\/p>\n

I wrote (and complained) about photographing her in poor light here<\/span><\/a> and here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BigBig Red – Red-tailed Hawk in flight – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After the big red Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> gained altitude yesterday she flew past me to the east, circled and then flew back to the west where I was able to take photos of her with the sky in the background instead of the sage and rabbitbrush covered hillside bit unfortunately I clipped wing tips in almost all of the photos and the one where I didn’t she had closed her nictitating membrane over her eye.<\/p>\n

Speaking of eyes… the biting gnats (no-see-ums) were bad yesterday and they tore me up, sucked my blood and spit me back out.<\/p>\n

I didn’t know until much later in the day how badly they had gotten to me. By late afternoon I could tell I had been bitten by one of the nasty suckers between the bridge of my nose and my right eye because it was crazy itchy in that spot then a while later I noticed swelling on my lower eyelid that got worse before I went to bed.<\/p>\n

It was bad enough last night but it looks worse this morning. I have a lot to do before Saturday and now I have to do it with a swollen eye.<\/p>\n

This is the price we bird photographers sometimes pay to follow our passion for taking images of our beloved birds. I have had really odd and\/or strong reactions to insect bites.<\/p>\n

Maybe I should buy an eye patch from the drug store and pretend to be a pirate who photographs birds for the rest of the week mateys!<\/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 have been trying to photograph this rufous morph Red-tailed Hawk in good light since the first time I spotted her on the 24th of March in northern Utah, yesterday I finally accomplished that goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153563,"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":[1148,449,26],"tags":[4004,2663,4170,2497,4098,4052,4122,4033,4169,2386,751,4282,4289,153,5414,4209,6489,4057,165],"class_list":["post-52051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-desert","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-hillside","tag-lift-off","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rufous-morph","tag-sagebrush","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-9733.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dxx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56769,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/22\/rufous-morph-red-tailed-hawk-taking-flight-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":52051,"position":0},"title":"Rufous Morph Red-tailed Hawk Taking Flight Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By the time I took this next image in the series the Red-tailed Hawk had straightened her legs, her wings were high over her body and she was pushing off from the rock.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rufous morph Red-tailed Hawk pushing off from her perch, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.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-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":111219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/15\/red-tailed-hawk-pre-lift-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":52051,"position":1},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk Pre-Lift Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been about four years since I photographed this rufous Red-tailed Hawk in in a pre-lift off pose way up in northern Utah. This pose can be hard to capture.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk in pre-lift off position, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-female-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-5722.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-female-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-5722.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-female-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-5722.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-female-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-5722.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57003,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/01\/more-photos-of-the-rufous-red-tailed-hawk-female\/","url_meta":{"origin":52051,"position":3},"title":"More Photos Of The Rufous Red-tailed Hawk Female","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.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":52051,"position":4},"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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