{"id":55313,"date":"2018-12-16T05:06:04","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T12:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55313"},"modified":"2021-09-23T07:24:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T13:24:57","slug":"winter-ferruginous-hawk-lift-off-and-flight-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/16\/winter-ferruginous-hawk-lift-off-and-flight-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Ferruginous Hawk Lift Off And Flight Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinterWinter Ferruginous Hawk perched on rocks – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/6400, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I was able to photograph two Ferruginous Hawks yesterday morning in the West Desert in Tooele County. The light was good, I had birds in my viewfinder and I was away from our building inversion so I was one happy woman. The first Ferruginous Hawk even expelled a pellet while I watched and photographed it and although the light angle wasn’t the best I will more than likely do a post on that behavior at a later time. After the hawk expelled the pellet it lifted off, flew a short distance and landed on some rocks with snowy mountains in the background. The bird appeared relaxed and I took quite a few images of it as it looked around.<\/p>\n

\"FerruginousFerruginous Hawk lifting off with snowy mountains in the background – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/6400, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Normally I look for behavioral clues that some raptors exhibit prior to lifting off, some of those clues are that they defecate, they shake their feathers, look in one direction with intensity or they turn just prior to lift off. All this Ferruginous Hawk did was turn slightly before if started to lift off but I was focused on it and fired away as its wing tips pointed skyward.<\/p>\n

\"WinterWinter Ferruginous Hawk right after lifting off – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/6400, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

As those long wings started to come down the hawk took a leap into the air, its feet left the ground and just that quick it was airborne. I love the snowy mountains in the background and the small section of blue sky at the upper left of this frame, the spread talons of the right foot are neat to see too.<\/p>\n

\"FerruginousFerruginous Hawk flying right towards me – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/8000, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I really didn’t expect this Ferruginous Hawk to fly almost directly at me but that is what it did. I wish the hawk had turned its head slightly towards the north so I could have had a better head on view but I really like this photo of it leaving its rocky perch behind with its legs still dangling down because it gives me a nice view of its feathered tarsi.<\/p>\n

\"FerruginousFerruginous Hawk in flight in front of snow covered mountains – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/8000, ISO 800, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

By the next frame in the sequence the hawk had its left leg tucked close to its body and it was in the process of tucking the right leg in too. The hawk flew almost straight over my head, flew in a big loop across the road and back before it landed on a fence post too far away from the road to photograph it again.<\/p>\n

Even if I hadn’t seen or photographed another bird yesterday morning this Ferruginous Hawk made the trip into the West Desert worth it.<\/p>\n

By the way, I believe this to be a first winter bird due to the lack of rufous on the side of the chest among other things.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I was able to photograph two Ferruginous Hawks yesterday morning in the West Desert in Tooele County. The light was good, I had birds in my viewfinder and I was away from our building inversion so I was one happy woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95440,"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":[27,1069,1316,358,26,1314],"tags":[4268,2497,4098,2413,2092,4052,4033,4169,2386,4944,2670,4069,4104,153,4470,4050,4093,373],"class_list":["post-55313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-ferruginous-hawks","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-buteo-regalis","tag-buteos","tag-desert","tag-feathered-tarsi","tag-ferruginous-hawk","tag-flight","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lifting-off","tag-light-morph","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-rocks","tag-snow","tag-snow-covered","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4731.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eo9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118517,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/24\/dark-morph-ferruginous-hawk-in-the-west-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":55313,"position":0},"title":"Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk In The West Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Four years ago today, I found this gorgeous dark morph Ferruginous Hawk perched on a juniper fence post in the West Desert. I spotted it from about a mile away.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lifting off dark morph Ferruginous Hawk, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-4510.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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McPherson","date":"November 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nearly three years have passed since I found, pointed out, and photographed this stunning dark morph Ferruginous Hawk in the West Desert of Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark morph Ferruginous Hawk lifting one foot, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4399.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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