{"id":7872,"date":"2013-03-16T05:58:25","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T11:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7872"},"modified":"2025-12-26T13:19:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T19:19:00","slug":"wierd-canada-geese-behavior-and-a-red-tailed-hawk-building-a-nest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/16\/wierd-canada-geese-behavior-and-a-red-tailed-hawk-building-a-nest\/","title":{"rendered":"Weird Canada Geese Behavior And A Red-tailed Hawk Building A Nest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CanadaCanada Geese and odd behavior<\/span><\/p>\n

I went camping & photographing in northern Utah this week and came across something that made me scratch my head. Ron and I were traveling down a road when I saw some birds high up on a cliff face and at first I couldn’t figure out what the birds were. My mind raced and it took a few seconds to figure out that the birds I was seeing were Canada Geese!<\/p>\n

\"SquawkingSquawking & flying Canada Geese on top of a cliff<\/span><\/p>\n

It was very odd to see Canada Geese perching on the cliff face, I’d certainly never seen them perched on a cliff before. They would take off squawking, circle and land again and repeated that behavior several times.<\/p>\n

\"CanadaCanada Geese landing on top of a cliff<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00a0traveled on down the road and I was puzzled by their behavior and, when we passed back that way\u00a0on our way out I kept my eye on the cliff face. The Canada Geese were making a racket, flying in circles and landing on rocks at the top of the cliff. The cliff was several hundred feet high so these images are not my best quality. The light was a little better from our position than it had been earlier so we took more images.\u00a0 When I am looking through my viewfinder with my right eye I often have my left eye open to catch movement outside of the viewfinder and this time it paid off nicely because I did detect movement and trained my lens on the area where I saw it.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk with nesting material<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a Red-tailed Hawk hopping & walking around on the ground. I wondered if the hawk was ground hunting but as it moved towards a bush it picked up a stick and I knew it had nesting material.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk carrying the nesting material<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as the Red-tailed had a firm grasp on the stick it took off flying towards the cliff face. You can see how long the stick was in this shot.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk on the nest<\/span><\/p>\n

The Red-tailed Hawk landed on a area of the cliff about a third of the way down from the top and I could clearly see it moving the stick around in the nest. After the hawk got the stick situated it came to the edge of the nest and looked around all the while the Canada Geese were high on the cliff top squawking and flying in and out.<\/p>\n

From their vantage point they could not see the nest but I’m sure they were aware of the hawk’s presence. I don’t know if their odd behavior was caused by the hawk but it sure was interesting.<\/p>\n

The weird Canada Geese behavior on the top of the cliff led me to finding a Red-tailed Hawks<\/span><\/a> nest though and I am tickled about that. Seeing the nesting Red-tailed Hawks was exciting and observing the Canada Geese behavior was interesting. You never know what fascinating things you will see in nature.<\/p>\n

Has anyone else seen Canada Geese high on cliffs? I’d be interested in hearing if you have.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

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

The weird Canada Geese behavior on the top of the cliff led me to finding a Red-tailed Hawks nest though and I am tickled about that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166176,"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":[27,1148,28,449,26],"tags":[4004,2663,32,4170,4343,4033,4169,780,3976,4182,4450,4418,153,5446,4209],"class_list":["post-7872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-canada-geese","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-branta-canadensis","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-canada-goose","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-nest-building","tag-nesting","tag-nesting-material","tag-nesting-season","tag-odd-behavior","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawks","tag-red-tailed-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-mia-mcpherson-0785.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-22Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100286,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-it-is-nest-building-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":7872,"position":0},"title":"Desert Red-tailed Hawk – It Is Nest Building Time","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Among the birds I found was a desert dwelling Red-tailed Hawk adult who was busy refurbishing a nest on a cliff face.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face in bitter cold temps, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-cliff-face-desert-mia-mcpherson-5336.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture roosting on an old corral, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-corral-mia-mcpherson-5468.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-corral-mia-mcpherson-5468.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-corral-mia-mcpherson-5468.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-corral-mia-mcpherson-5468.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-nest-fall-mia-mcpherson-4407.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":7872,"position":3},"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 "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of a male Red-tailed Hawk in flight, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.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-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-flight-close-up-mia-mcpherson-0725.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38622,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/20\/cliff-face-and-a-banking-red-tailed-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":7872,"position":4},"title":"Cliff Face and a Banking Red-tailed Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This banking Red-tailed Hawk is one of the pair that are busy building their nest and making nearby forays to find nesting materials.","rel":"","context":"In "Box Elder County"","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder 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