{"id":75360,"date":"2020-11-16T05:51:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T12:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=75360"},"modified":"2024-08-16T18:30:32","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T23:30:32","slug":"looking-back-on-photographing-a-rare-leucistic-adult-red-tailed-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/11\/16\/looking-back-on-photographing-a-rare-leucistic-adult-red-tailed-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back On Photographing A Rare Leucistic Red-tailed Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four years and two days ago I spent the morning looking for and photographing a rare leucistic adult Red-tailed Hawk that a friend had told me about.<\/p>\n

\"LeucisticLeucistic adult Red-tailed Hawk perched in a tree \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I wrote a post about photographing this handsome raptor<\/span><\/a> the day after I took my first images of it and today I wanted to share two more photos of that snow white bird.<\/p>\n

In my original post I mentioned that when I first spotted and pointed out the leucistic Red-tailed Hawk that it was perched in a tree and back lit but I didn’t share the photo above of the hawk.<\/p>\n

From a distance the raptor looked like it could have been a white plastic bag hung up in the branches of the tree. With my keen eyesight even from a long distance I was able to see that it wasn’t just a plastic bag. It was the rare hawk that I had been searching for.<\/p>\n

After a bit the leucistic Red-tailed Hawk flew to a power pole where I was able to take photos of it in better light.<\/p>\n

\"LeucisticLeucistic Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a power pole \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

When the nearly pure white Red-tailed Hawk lifted off the the power pole I was able to take photos of it in flight as it flew out over a field to the west.<\/p>\n

Neither of these photos are great and I wish that they were better than just<\/em> documentary images. With a rare or unusual bird I’ll take those kind of photos.<\/p>\n

I saw and photographed the leucistic Red-tailed Hawk two mornings in a row and then it may have moved on to another location because I never saw the unusual raptor again.<\/p>\n

Even though it is now four years later I still look for this striking leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in Tooele County and hope to find and photograph it again one day.<\/p>\n

I had planned on sharing this post two days ago but decided I wanted to publish the post I did for the person that had come to my site looking for information on how much to feed a juvenile Brown Pelican<\/span><\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

From Merriam-Webster.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Definition of leucism:<\/em><\/p>\n

an abnormal condition of reduced pigmentation affecting various animals (such as birds, mammals, and reptiles) that is marked by overall pale color or patches of reduced coloring and is caused by a genetic mutation which inhibits melanin and other pigments from being deposited in feathers, hair, or skin. The presence of unusual plumage contrasts (such as a very pale-winged bird with dark brown tail) is a strong indication of leucism. \u2014 David Allen Sibley<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even though it is now four years later I still look for this striking leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in Tooele County and hope to find and photograph it again one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132607,"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":[27,13594,7646,449,358,26],"tags":[4004,2485,2663,4170,4052,4122,4169,2386,3456,3455,4282,4944,4104,5165,1902,4209,3792,5428,4427],"class_list":["post-75360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-leucistic","category-rarities","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-back-lit","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-leucism","tag-leucistic","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-perched","tag-power-pole","tag-rare","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-take-off","tag-taking-off","tag-tree"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-3834.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-jBu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43116,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/11\/15\/partially-leucistic-adult-red-tailed-hawk-in-flight-a-rare-and-wonderful-sight\/","url_meta":{"origin":75360,"position":0},"title":"Partially Leucistic Adult Red-tailed Hawk in Flight – A Rare and Wonderful Sight!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When the partially leucistic Red-tailed Hawk lifted off from the power pole I was able to capture photos of it in flight and I was stunned by the beauty of the hawk, pictures do not do this bird justice.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Leucistic Red-tailed Hawk adult in flight, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3799.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3799.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3799.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3799.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44163,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/31\/looking-at-2016-in-the-rear-view-mirror-or-my-photographic-year-in-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":75360,"position":1},"title":"Looking at 2016 in the Rear View Mirror or My Photographic Year in Review","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, today is the last day of the year 2016. This is my photographic year in review from Utah, Idaho and Montana!","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in flight, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3806.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3806.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-3806.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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