{"id":6494,"date":"2012-11-03T12:39:42","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T18:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6494"},"modified":"2025-12-18T15:36:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:36:34","slug":"juvenile-red-tailed-hawk-from-lift-off-to-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/03\/juvenile-red-tailed-hawk-from-lift-off-to-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk – From Lift Off To Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Red-tailed Hawk getting ready to lift off – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.3, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

I went out into the west desert of Utah this morning hoping to take images of the raptors I thought I would find there to do a post on but some days though the birds are few and those that you find just aren’t cooperative.<\/p>\n

It was that kind of day so I will post a series of images of a young Red-tailed hawk that I created in September.<\/p>\n

This handsome juvenile Red-tailed Hawk had landed on these dark rocks before I started this series. In the frame above I could tell by the bird’s posture that lift off would most likely happen soon so I got ready.<\/p>\n

I have mentioned before that it pays to study and learn a subject’s behavior and because I do this series of images worked well because I had anticipated the bird’s next movements.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk juvenile crouching before lift off – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.3, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This frame shows the immature hawk crouching down prior to lifting off.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Red-tailed right after lift off – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.3, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This image shows the Red-tailed juvie right after it leapt into the air.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Red-tailed Hawk gaining altitude – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.3, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This frame shows the young hawk gaining altitude.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Red-tailed Hawk flying past me – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.3, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

I lost focus for two frames as the hawk started flying past the darks rocky outcropping in the background and then with this frame I locked on again.<\/p>\n

I haven’t been seeing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> in the same location of late and I hope that it decides to hunt in the area again, those dark rocks can make for dramatic backgrounds.<\/p>\n

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

Have a great Saturday!<\/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 went out into the west desert of Utah this morning hoping to take images of the raptors I thought I would find there to do a post on but some days though the birds are few and those that you find just aren’t cooperative<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,449,26],"tags":[970,4170,4506,3981,11978,4620,4052,4122,4067,4071,4282,153,4209,4470,1949,4193],"class_list":["post-6494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-crouching","tag-davis-county","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-lift-off","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rocks","tag-western-red-tailed-hawk","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4470-fly-by.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1GK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6686,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/01\/juvenile-red-tailed-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":6494,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the nice things about cruddy weather is that I get the chance to edit some of the images that are languishing in my files that I have taken but not gotten around to processing. Here are a few of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk photographed in August on Antelope\u2026","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":"Red-tailed Hawk juvenile flying between rock faces, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4232-flight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4232-flight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4232-flight.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-4232-flight.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6208,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/30\/red-tailed-hawk-delight\/","url_meta":{"origin":6494,"position":1},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk Delight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I had another great day with juvenile Red-tailed Hawks on Antelope Island State Park last week.","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":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk slowing down prior to landing, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7546.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7546.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7546.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-7546.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6053,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/05\/juvenile-red-tailed-hawk-in-landing-pose\/","url_meta":{"origin":6494,"position":2},"title":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk In Landing Pose","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I had fun yesterday photographing this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) as it perched on rocks and hunted for prey. This image shows the Red-tailed coming in for a landing.","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":"Landing juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-mia-mcpherson-4237.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-mia-mcpherson-4237.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-mia-mcpherson-4237.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6705,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/12\/04\/photographing-red-tailed-hawk-juvies-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":6494,"position":3},"title":"Photographing Red-tailed Hawk Juveniles On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are a just few images that I have edited taken since August of Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on Antelope Island State Park.","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":"Red-tailed juvenile landing on a rock outcropping, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-landing-mia-mcpherson-9128.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-landing-mia-mcpherson-9128.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-landing-mia-mcpherson-9128.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-landing-mia-mcpherson-9128.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116873,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-a-west-desert-weather-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":6494,"position":4},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk On A West Desert Weather Station","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A West Desert weather station wasn't the prettiest perch, but that is where I found this handsome Red-tailed Hawk last week when I went looking for birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk on a West Desert weather station, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6085,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/09\/09\/more-raptor-rapture-red-tailed-hawk-juvenile\/","url_meta":{"origin":6494,"position":5},"title":"More Raptor Rapture – Red-tailed Hawk Juvenile","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) images were taken on two consecutive days last week. I'm always excited to have a bird in my view finder and when I can photograph hawks for two days in a row... I feel raptor rapture.","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":"Look of determination on a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5122.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5122.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5122.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-5122.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\/6494","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=6494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}