{"id":55397,"date":"2018-12-24T05:26:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T12:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=55397"},"modified":"2025-01-31T04:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T10:25:12","slug":"rough-legged-hawk-photographed-on-christmas-eve-day-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/24\/rough-legged-hawk-photographed-on-christmas-eve-day-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Rough-legged Hawk Photographed On Christmas Eve Day 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk perched on a Waterfowl Rest Area sign – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I looked through all of the photos I have taken on Christmas Eve Day going back as far as 2003 yesterday and remembered fondly how I loved being at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park on Christmas Eve and Christmas day because there were times when the birds and I had the beach all to ourselves.<\/p>\n

In 2008 I ended up helping to rescue a Double-crested Cormorant on Christmas Eve day<\/span><\/a> that had swallowed a fish hook and was so starved it didn’t even try to fly away. The cormorant recovered after being rehabbed and was released at the same beach later on.<\/p>\n

One year I was in Tasmania for Christmas Eve seeing and photographing Quolls, Wallabies, Tasmanian Devils, Kangaroos, Black Swans, Wombats, Emus and more.<\/p>\n

After looking through all of those images I decided to share a photo today of an immature Rough-legged Hawk perched on a waterfowl rest area sign taken at Farmington Bay WMA on Christmas Eve day in 2013. I recall that it was bitter cold, cold enough that I had hand warmers tucked into my gloves to keep my hands warm and that there was a thick blanket of snow covering the marsh and that the birds were all “sticky” because of the frigid temps.<\/p>\n

It isn’t so cold this year for a Christmas Eve morning with little to zero snow on the ground in the valley and clouds that will prevent me from going out to find birds this morning but with any luck and a break in the clouds I hope to get out this afternoon to see if I can carry on my tradition of photographing birds on Christmas Eve day. If not I’ll try again tomorrow morning which is another tradition I love, enjoying nature and looking for birds to photograph on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

After looking through all of those images I decided to share a photo today of an immature Rough-legged Hawk perched on a waterfowl rest area sign taken at Farmington Bay WMA on Christmas Eve day in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139109,"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":[1022,697,1087,26],"tags":[2663,4275,2497,4033,4169,2386,4067,153,1648,4681,4050,6912],"class_list":["post-55397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-sign","tag-snow","tag-waterfowl-rest-area"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-waterfowl-rest-area-mia-mcpherson-3079.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-epv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":120091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/24\/rough-legged-hawk-on-a-no-swimming-sign\/","url_meta":{"origin":55397,"position":0},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk On A No Swimming Sign","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"While looking for a photo to share this morning I found this immature Rough-legged Hawk on a No Swimming Sign with the snowy Wasatch Mountains in the background.","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":"Rough-legged Hawk on a No Swimming sign on the causeway to Antelope Island, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5263,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/06\/29\/rough-legged-hawk-friday-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":55397,"position":1},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk ~ Friday Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic so we don't see them around here in northern Utah during the summer.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on a tree at Farmington Bay WMA, 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, 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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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