{"id":5400,"date":"2012-07-25T08:02:32","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T14:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5400"},"modified":"2024-12-15T03:58:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T09:58:03","slug":"a-pair-of-red-tailed-hawks-in-early-morning-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/07\/25\/a-pair-of-red-tailed-hawks-in-early-morning-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Pair of Red-tailed Hawks in early morning light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having one Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis<\/em>) in my viewfinder is a joy and getting two of them in the same frame is even more of a delight.<\/p>\n

\"PairPair of Red-tailed Hawks in morning light – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/200, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

On the morning of the last day of my recent trip to southwestern Montana I found this pair of adult Red-tailed Hawks perched on the sun-bleached branches of a dead Aspen in Beaverhead County.<\/p>\n

I believe they are a mated pair because they stayed close to each other the entire time that I photographed them. The warm morning light lit the raptors up beautifully while clouds moving in from the west created a wonderful background.<\/p>\n

The shrill “kli kli kli” call of a pair of American Kestrels could be heard\u00a0each time one of the Red-tailed Hawks lifted off from the branches they were perched on, perhaps the kestrels had fledglings nearby but I never saw them. The small falcons dive bombed the flying hawks with amazing fierceness. I wish that the action had happened closer and more out in the open so that I could have gotten images of it.<\/p>\n

\"PairPair of adult Red-tailed Hawks alarmed at something in the sky – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In just the 9 minutes between the time these two images were created the clouds in the background became significantly\u00a0darker and\u00a0the\u00a0warm, golden tones of the sunlight falling on the hawks and branches added a dramatic contrast to this frame.<\/p>\n

I have no idea what the Red-tailed Hawks saw in the sky that caused them to be on alert, the vehicle roof obscured my view.<\/p>\n

After losing the light it was time to pack up and leave Montana but not the memories or treasure trove of images that I created while I was there.<\/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":"

Having one Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) in my viewfinder is a joy and getting two of them in the same frame is even more of a delight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137861,"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":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,12,449],"tags":[4051,9065,1919,1516,6577,4170,4101,16037,2240,2138,5778,16036,2139,4104,6576,7791,4209,4018,4427],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-montana","category-red-tailed-hawks","tag-adults","tag-alarmed","tag-aspen","tag-beaverhead-county-2","tag-branches","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-clouds","tag-found","tag-mated-pair","tag-mates","tag-mates-for-life","tag-montane-valley","tag-pair","tag-perched","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sky","tag-tree"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/red-tailed-hawks-mia-mcpherson-4276.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1p6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10206,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/08\/red-tailed-hawks-mates-for-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":0},"title":"Red-tailed 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