{"id":55136,"date":"2018-11-27T06:10:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T13:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55136"},"modified":"2025-10-01T10:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T15:43:27","slug":"peek-a-boo-rough-legged-hawk-at-farmington-bay-wma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/11\/27\/peek-a-boo-rough-legged-hawk-at-farmington-bay-wma\/","title":{"rendered":"Peek-a-boo Rough-legged Hawk At Farmington Bay WMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Peek-a-booPeek-a-boo Rough-legged Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year on December 15th I photographed a cooperative and beautiful immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA. I took hundreds of photos of the young hawk in flight, landing, with prey in its talons, eating the prey and as it looked around the marsh.<\/p>\n

I wrote up two separate posts on it last December too and shared photos of it going about the business of being a hawk overwintering in Utah far from the arctic tundra where it had hatched earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

Those photos showed the young Rough-legged Hawk in action and as it went about the serious business of capturing food so it could stay alive during its first winter, a time when young raptors are at serious risk.<\/p>\n

So many of them don’t survive their fall migration, the winter or their return to the arctic tundra in the spring.<\/p>\n

The statistics are sobering and there are times when I photograph immature hawks during the winter and think to myself that “this young hawk might not survive to see the spring thaw” and quite frankly that can be a touch depressing.<\/p>\n

I know, that is the cycle of life, that it is nature and nature can be harsh.<\/p>\n

Today I wanted to share one of the photos of that immature Rough-legged Hawk<\/span><\/a> that made me laugh and that brought a smile to my face that was taken immediately after it landed on the kestrel nest box.<\/p>\n

Why did it make me laugh and smile? Because it looks like the Rough-legged Hawk might have been playing peek-a-boo as it looked towards me through its wingtips.<\/p>\n

Of course the hawk wasn’t playing peek-a-boo at all but just the visual suggestion that it might be made me laugh out loud when I viewed this frame on my monitor at home.<\/p>\n

Laughter can be good medicine and I’ll take as much of it as I can whenever it is offered.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Why did it make me laugh and smile? Because it looks like the Rough-legged Hawk might have been playing peek-a-boo as it looked towards me through its wingtips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[27,1022,697,150,1087,26],"tags":[2663,4275,1124,4052,4033,4169,4067,4123,2670,4094,2279,6895,153,1648,6299,4095,373,4193],"class_list":["post-55136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-diurnal-raptors","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-field","tag-flight","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-landing","tag-light-morph","tag-marsh","tag-nest-box","tag-peek-a-boo","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-roughie","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-nest-box-mia-mcpherson-5320.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eli","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":108765,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/15\/immature-rough-legged-hawk-staring-prey-and-feaking\/","url_meta":{"origin":55136,"position":0},"title":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk, Staring Prey And Feaking","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing photos of an immature Rough-legged Hawk, its staring prey, of the bird feaking and a bonus image that shows the tongue of the hawk.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk looking at a staring vole, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-prey-mia-mcpherson-5480.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-prey-mia-mcpherson-5480.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Rough-legged Hawk – Lift Off, Landing & Lunch","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to photograph an immature Rough-legged Hawk lifting off, landing and lunching at Farmington Bay WMA in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk on nest box with lunch, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-lunch-mia-mcpherson-5483.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":74760,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/10\/19\/on-the-lookout-for-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":55136,"position":3},"title":"On The Lookout For Rough-Legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm hoping that this week I'll be able to spot my first of the season Rough-legged Hawks and that I'll be able to get photos of them too. Fingers are crossed!","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk perched on a snow-covered cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-snow-mia-mcpherson-3435.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-3576.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10162,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/05\/dorsal-view-of-a-rough-legged-hawk-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":55136,"position":5},"title":"Dorsal View Of A Rough-legged Hawk In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I woke up 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