{"id":7286,"date":"2013-01-27T05:51:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T12:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7286"},"modified":"2025-05-26T09:19:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T14:19:23","slug":"immature-red-tailed-rough-legged-ferruginous-and-swainsons-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/01\/27\/immature-red-tailed-rough-legged-ferruginous-and-swainsons-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I thought I would post images of the immature Buteos that I see most often in Utah and Montana, they are Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks.\u00a0 The Red-tailed, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks all breed in my area, the Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk juvenile and an intense stare – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited, called in or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed the young Red-tailed Hawk above during the summer\u00a0in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana. It was a very cooperative bird and I was able to take quite a few images of it, I liked this image because of the way the raptor\u00a0appeared to be staring intensely at something on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Rough-legged Hawk side view – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/800, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light, not baited, called in or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This immature Rough-legged Hawk was also very cooperative as it preened and fluffed on Antelope Island State Park in Davis County, Utah. This bird was photographed during the winter which is the only time I see Rough-legged Hawks in Utah and Montana.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Ferruginous Hawk – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light, not baited, called in or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This young Ferruginous Hawk was photographed the same morning as the immature Red-tailed Hawk shown above in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County, Montana. The Ferruginous Hawk hasn’t gotten the rufous coloration to its feathered legs yet. I wish I had been closer to this young bird as it appeared that some of the radiant heat rising from the road may have interfered with this image being as sharp as I wanted it or it may have been the pickup idling, I am not sure. I wasn’t driving.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Swainson\u2019s Hawk near the Red Rock River – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited, called in or set up<\/span><\/p>\n

This immature Swainson’s Hawk was photographed in the Centennial Valley of Beaverhead County Montana too, nearby there was another young and adult Swainson’s but they weren’t in good light like this young hawk was.<\/p>\n

I always, and I do mean always, feel privileged when I am in the presence of these magnificent raptors where I can observe them and their behaviors and photograph these amazing hawks.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my hawk, eagle, osprey and vulture photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I thought I would post images of the juvenile Buteos that I see most often in Utah and Montana, they are Red-tailed, Rough-legged, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146200,"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":[511,1513,27,223,1022,1069,12,449,1087,206,26],"tags":[215,2663,4170,4275,4268,4200,2497,2092,4169,4067,153,4209,1648,4034],"class_list":["post-7286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-davis-county-utah","category-ferruginous-hawks","category-montana","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-swainson-hawks","category-utah","tag-bird-id","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteo-regalis","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-buteos","tag-ferruginous-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Tw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49324,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/07\/feathered-tarsi-ferruginous-rough-legged-hawks-have-feathered-legs\/","url_meta":{"origin":7286,"position":0},"title":"Feathered Tarsi – Ferruginous & Rough-legged Hawks Have Feathered Legs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"North America has two hawk (buteos) species that have feathered tarsi, or legs, those two species are Ferruginous Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks.","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":"Ferruginous Hawk showing its feathered legs (tarsi), West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62215,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/26\/ferruginous-hawks-in-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":7286,"position":1},"title":"Ferruginous Hawks in Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Knowing what kind of habitat Ferruginous Hawks prefer during all four seasons here in northern Utah can increase the chances of finding them year round.","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":"Dark morph Ferruginous Hawk surveying its habitat, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-perched-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-perched-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-perched-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-dark-morph-perched-mia-mcpherson-4370.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/swainsons-hawk-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-1599.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/swainsons-hawk-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-1599.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/swainsons-hawk-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-1599.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/swainsons-hawk-adult-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-1599.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42229,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/25\/farewell-to-the-swainsons-hawks-im-looking-forward-to-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":7286,"position":3},"title":"Farewell To The Swainson’s Hawks – I’m Looking Forward To Rough-legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I am saying a fond farewell to the Swainson's Hawks I'm also looking forward to Rough-legged Hawks gracing my life for another season.","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":"Eye level Rough-legged Hawk in flight, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9388.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9388.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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