{"id":77258,"date":"2021-01-04T06:16:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T13:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=77258"},"modified":"2024-07-21T03:40:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T08:40:55","slug":"first-winter-red-tailed-hawk-lift-off-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/04\/first-winter-red-tailed-hawk-lift-off-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"First Winter Red-tailed Hawk Lift Off Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month I spent twenty-eight lovely minutes photographing this first winter Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a>. When I first spotted and pointed out the immature Red-tailed Hawk I remembered having photographed another young hawk on the same exact metal post<\/span><\/a> about two years prior to this sighting.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Red-tailed Hawk perched on a metal post \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This young Red-tailed Hawk perched on the metal post and spent most of its time looking around for prey. It was also dive-bombed by a Northern Harrier<\/span><\/a> and I shared those photos last month.<\/p>\n

I wanted to share a series of consecutive images as this first winter Red-tailed Hawk lifted off. In this first photo the young bird of prey looked calm.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Red-tailed Hawk preparing to lift off \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the young raptor lifted one of its wings and turned its body ever so slightly. The hawk seemed to use its other wing to maintain its balance on the small metal pole.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Red-tailed Hawk a split second before lift off \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next frame the first winter Red-tailed Hawk started to push both of its wings down to gain some lift for its take off. I noticed that it also seemed to have it eyes on something in the distance.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a metal pole \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the immature Red-tailed Hawk lifted off and started to fly over the winter marsh. In this photo the metal pole that it had lifted off from is still visible.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst winter Red-tailed Hawk turning in flight \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The final photo in the series of five images shows the first winter Red-tailed Hawk turning away from me in flight but I still had a view of the young hawk’s eye so I wanted to include it to finish off this post.<\/p>\n

If I had taken my eyes away from this hawk for even a second to check out other traffic on the road I would have missed being able to photograph this series.<\/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":"

Last month I spent twenty-eight lovely minutes photographing this first winter Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130944,"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":[27,1022,697,449,26],"tags":[2653,4170,2497,10421,4052,4122,4033,4169,2386,4067,4071,4282,4944,4094,6613,153,5414,4209,3792,5428,30,373,4193],"class_list":["post-77258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-bird-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-first","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-marsh","tag-metal-post","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-take-off","tag-taking-off","tag-utah-2","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-perched-mia-mcpherson-7715.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-k66","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107272,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/15\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-with-mountains-in-the-background\/","url_meta":{"origin":77258,"position":0},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk With Mountains In The Background","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My best bird photos from yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA were of an immature Red-tailed Hawk with the shadowed Wasatch Mountain slopes in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk on a nest box in early morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50804,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/30\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-lift-off-and-flight-at-farmington-bay\/","url_meta":{"origin":77258,"position":1},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk Lift Off and Flight at Farmington Bay","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One good bird can make my day... Yesterday that bird was an immature Red-tailed Hawk at Farmington Bay WMA that lifted off from a metal post and flew over the marsh.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a metal pole, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-7633.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-7633.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-7633.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-mia-mcpherson-4805.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75711,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/12\/04\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-harassed-by-a-northern-harrier\/","url_meta":{"origin":77258,"position":3},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk Harassed By A Northern Harrier","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I found an immature Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday and spent 28 minutes photographing it including when a Northern Harrier harassed it.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk after a Northern Harrier flew over, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7624.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Immature Red-tailed Hawk Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I am sharing two high key type images of an immature Red-tailed Hawk I photographed at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"High key immature Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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