{"id":63181,"date":"2020-01-24T06:40:11","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T13:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=63181"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:47:17","slug":"rufous-female-red-tailed-hawk-fly-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/01\/24\/rufous-female-red-tailed-hawk-fly-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Rufous Female Red-tailed Hawk Fly By"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RufousRufous Red-tailed Hawk female flying past me \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/5000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

After writing about the Red-tailed Hawk I photographed on the rusty farm machinery<\/span><\/a> three days ago I started to wonder whether I would see another Red-tailed Hawk that I have photographed for several years. The stunning female rufous Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> that I have taken photos of for several years has been on my mind for days.<\/p>\n

When I first found her a number of years ago the light always seemed to be bad. Low light or poor light angles seemed to plague me. Almost every time I saw her I ended up being frustrated. I struggled. I tried again and again to photograph her and when I finally did photograph the female rufous Red-tailed Hawk in good light I wanted to stand up and dance. I wanted to shout with glee.<\/p>\n

She and her mate have nested in an area of northern Utah for a couple of years and now I am wondering if they will be back in the same area to nest again. I haven’t been up to that area for a while now and I haven’t seen her since the end of the nesting season but this is almost the time of the year when I start to see Red-tailed Hawks begin to court and rebuild old nest or create new ones.<\/p>\n

I keep wondering if I will see this big, gorgeous, rufous Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> female in my viewfinder again this year. Only time will tell but I sure hope so!<\/p>\n

I just need some clear weather to drive up to see if she is around.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I keep wondering if I will see this big, gorgeous, rufous Red-tailed Hawk female in my viewfinder again this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152254,"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":[4004,2663,4170,2497,5100,4098,4070,4052,4122,1023,4033,4169,2386,6384,153,5414,4209,6617,6489],"class_list":["post-63181","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-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-cliff-face","tag-desert","tag-female","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-frustrations-in-bird-photography1","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-on-the-wing","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rufous","tag-rufous-morph"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-rufous-female-on-the-wing-mia-mcpherson-5722.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gr3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":78456,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/28\/rufous-red-tailed-hawk-female-memories\/","url_meta":{"origin":63181,"position":0},"title":"Rufous Red-tailed Hawk Female Memories","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I wanted to share a few photos of a stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk female that I photographed over a period of a couple of years.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female rufous Red-tailed Hawk stretching, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-2832.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-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-2832.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-2832.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-female-stretching-mia-mcpherson-2832.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":63181,"position":1},"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 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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":56673,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/17\/nesting-red-tailed-hawks-plus-guidelines-on-photographing-nesting-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":63181,"position":4},"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 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