{"id":62169,"date":"2019-12-21T06:15:07","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T13:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62169"},"modified":"2025-10-01T13:30:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:30:56","slug":"an-immature-rough-legged-hawk-hunting-for-prey-at-bear-river-mbr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/21\/an-immature-rough-legged-hawk-hunting-for-prey-at-bear-river-mbr\/","title":{"rendered":"An Immature Rough-legged Hawk Hunting For Prey At Bear River MBR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Rough-legged Hawk surveying the marsh at Bear River MBR – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/5000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago when I stopped counting Rough-legged Hawks while at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge the number had topped out at fifteen.<\/p>\n

I saw more Rough-legged Hawks on the way home along I-15 but didn’t bother counting them.<\/p>\n

It has been a long time since I have spotted that many Rough-legged Hawks at one location and I was delighted to see them all.<\/p>\n

I’m sure I saw more but when I have the sun directly in my eyes at times I don’t feel as confident on my identifications.<\/p>\n

The over-wintering, arctic hawks were all fairly skittish though and the only one that wasn’t was a bit of a distance away and it was busy surveying the marsh looking for prey.<\/p>\n

There is still snow on the ground at the refuge which can make it a little harder for them to locate prey.<\/p>\n

But not this young Rough-legged Hawk, when it spotted prey out in the open on the distant bank of the Bear River it took off immediately.<\/p>\n

I followed its flight through my viewfinder and saw the prey just before the keen-eyed raptor grabbed it.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Rough-legged Hawk after capturing prey on the marsh at Bear River MBR – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/3200, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In this photo of the immature Rough-legged Hawk the prey can be seen just below the hawk’s left foot. That small opening in the snow is where the prey was when the hawk spotted it and where I saw it just before the hawk grabbed it.<\/p>\n

I watched and photographed as this Rough-legged Hawk consumed the prey.<\/p>\n

A lot of immature hawks don’t make it through their first winter or their first migration, seeing this one dive on its prey gives me some hope that this young bird might make it through the winter and its long migration back to the tundra in the spring.<\/p>\n

I sure hope it does.<\/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

Since I complained about having focusing issues due to heat wave distortion the morning before I went to Bear River MBR I feel that I should mention that for most of the morning I had zero focusing issues. <\/em><\/p>\n

That morning there was a slight breeze which seemed to help disperse the heat waves I had noticed the previous day. <\/em><\/p>\n

I only had trouble with heat waves once and that was when I was trying to photograph a nearby male American Kestrel. I also noted that when I was trying to photograph the kestrel that the breeze had stopped.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago when I stopped counting Rough-legged Hawks while at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge the number had topped out at fifteen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158823,"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":[124,27,1148,1087,26],"tags":[2663,5460,4275,2497,8156,4033,4169,2386,8157,5590,4067,4094,4104,4106,153,1648,4050,4095,373],"class_list":["post-62169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-breeze","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-capturing","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-heat-wave-distortion","tag-heat-waves","tag-immature","tag-marsh","tag-perched","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-snow","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-7276.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gaJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100107,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/20\/immature-rough-legged-hawk-perched-on-a-tumbleweed\/","url_meta":{"origin":62169,"position":0},"title":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk Perched On A Tumbleweed","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to spot, point out, and photograph this immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk that was perched on a tumbleweed at Bear River MBR yesterday morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk perched on a tumbleweed, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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McPherson","date":"December 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Some bird photographers might not share a photo like this Rough-legged Hawk in dense fog that I took two years ago today at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk in dense fog at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-dense-fog-mia-mcpherson-9937.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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I spotted my first of season Rough-legged Hawks on the wing last Friday.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male light morph Rough-legged Hawk on a February morning, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.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":62169,"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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2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month while enjoying one of the most relaxing trips I have had to Bear River MBR in a long time I came across this Rough-legged Hawk in soft morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk in soft morning light, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-soft-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7401.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-immature-soft-morning-light-mia-mcpherson-7401.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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