{"id":56593,"date":"2019-03-13T06:38:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T12:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56593"},"modified":"2024-11-09T05:18:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-09T11:18:38","slug":"one-stunning-rufous-red-tailed-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/13\/one-stunning-rufous-red-tailed-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"One Stunning Rufous Red-tailed Hawk – How Finding It Saved My Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

If I hadn’t found and pointed out this stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning I would have basically come home without a single decent image of a bird. Thankfully, not only was this a gorgeous bird, it was cooperative too. The sky was mostly clear, the sun was shining and it felt like a spring morning.<\/p>\n

\"BackBack view of a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a lichen covered rock – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I first saw the Red-tailed Hawk over my shoulder perched on some lichen covered rocks, I suspect that due to the early hour this is where the hawk spent the night.<\/p>\n

I thought this back view of the hawk was an interesting photo because generally the wing tips of Red-tailed Hawks do not reach past the end of their tail feathers but this bird’s wing tips do. Perhaps this Red-tailed Hawk had its wings dropped a bit which would cause the primary feathers to look longer, I am not sure.\u00a0 This photo doesn’t show the gorgeous rufous coloring of the hawk’s chest…<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk landing on a lichen covered rock face – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

But this photo does! The Red-tailed Hawk had been looking around while at its original perch but that perch was only a bit more than halfway up the cliff face so it made a short flight to get to a higher perch and I was able to photograph it as it landed.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk surveying its world from a rocky perch – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

From this perch the hawk had a grand view of its surroundings and could see prey in the distance better too.<\/p>\n

I wish I had been able to see the hawk’s tail in this photo too but sometimes that just doesn’t happen.<\/p>\n

The Red-tailed perched on this rocky out cropping for several minutes not doing much at all but looking around.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk lifting off from lichen covered rocks – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After a bit the Red-tailed Hawk squatted and pushed off from the lichen covered rocks and started to head towards the south. I love this lift off pose because the wings are extended, I can see the tail, the hawk’s legs and talons are still visible and I have great eye contact with the bird.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk gaining altitude after lift off – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time I took this photo the Red-tailed Hawk was beginning to draw its legs closer to its body and although I do have some blur in the wings I like it because it implies motion.<\/p>\n

The Red-tailed Hawk only flew a little bit to the south and perched on an even higher cliff face, I photographed it later on that same perch but really didn’t like the steep angle I had in those images.<\/p>\n

I’d love to find this Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> and photograph it again but that won’t happen this morning because as I am writing there is snow falling and I don’t want to be on the road with the crazies today. Perhaps this will be our last snow fall of the year, I do know that spring is on its way.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

To view more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus information about this species click here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I hadn’t found and pointed out this stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning I would have basically come home without a single decent image of a bird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":136572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1148,449,26],"tags":[4004,5180,2663,4170,2497,6990,4033,4169,2386,4123,5771,4282,4944,153,5414,4209,4921,6617],"class_list":["post-56593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-back-view","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-gaining-altitude","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-landing","tag-lichen-covered","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rock","tag-rufous"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t