{"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_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":[27,1148,449,26],"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":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8127.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-eIN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56673,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/17\/nesting-red-tailed-hawks-plus-guidelines-on-photographing-nesting-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":56593,"position":0},"title":"Nesting Red-tailed Hawks – Plus Guidelines On Photographing Nesting Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm happy to see that the rufous female Red-tailed Hawk does have a mate and that they are building a nest to raise their young in, I hope they are successful.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a male Red-tailed Hawk in flight, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56769,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/22\/rufous-morph-red-tailed-hawk-taking-flight-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":56593,"position":1},"title":"Rufous Morph Red-tailed Hawk Taking Flight Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"By the time I took this next image in the series the Red-tailed Hawk had straightened her legs, her wings were high over her body and she was pushing off from the rock.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rufous morph Red-tailed Hawk pushing off from her perch, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-of-sequence-mia-mcpherson-3037.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57003,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/01\/more-photos-of-the-rufous-red-tailed-hawk-female\/","url_meta":{"origin":56593,"position":2},"title":"More Photos Of The Rufous Red-tailed Hawk Female","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-5937.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53123,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/17\/sibling-red-tailed-hawk-juveniles-perched-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":56593,"position":3},"title":"Sibling Red-tailed Hawk Juveniles Perched & On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in March of this year I started watching and photographing a pair of Red-tailed Hawks in the process of building their nest on the face of a high cliff, these two juveniles are the results of the hard work of that pair of hawks.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk juvenile in flight at eye level, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-4853.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-4853.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-4853.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-4853.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":111219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/03\/15\/red-tailed-hawk-pre-lift-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":56593,"position":4},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk Pre-Lift Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been about four years since I photographed this rufous Red-tailed Hawk in in a pre-lift off pose way up in northern Utah. This pose can be hard to capture.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk in pre-lift off position, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-adult-rufous-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-8126.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":56593,"position":5},"title":"Desert Red-tailed Hawk Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was up in far northern Utah looking for birds last week, I took quite a few Red-tailed Hawk photos. I shared one image a few days ago and here are a few more.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk taking off from a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}