{"id":79561,"date":"2021-02-19T06:22:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-19T13:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=79561"},"modified":"2026-01-24T14:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:07:47","slug":"high-key-immature-red-tailed-hawk-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/19\/high-key-immature-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"High Key Immature Red-tailed Hawk Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-167550 size-full\" title=\"High key immature Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061.jpg\" alt=\"High key immature Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">High key immature Red-tailed Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 400, +2.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Today I am sharing two high key type images of an immature Red-tailed Hawk I photographed at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.utahbirds.org\/counties\/davis\/FarmingtonBay.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Farmington Bay WMA<\/span><\/a>. The light was low while I was at the WMA yesterday morning. There were thick clouds and the snowy Wasatch Mountains behind the immature hawk as it perched on a bare branch.<\/p>\n<p>I am aware that these high key type of photos do not appeal to everyone&#8217;s personal tastes. Some photographers will even digitally replace the sky behind their subjects to create what they consider to be more visually appealing images when faced with the lighting conditions I had yesterday. Some of them may not have even raised their lens to photograph the hawk.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-167553 size-full\" title=\"High key perched immature Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088.jpg\" alt=\"High key perched immature Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4088.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">High key perched immature Red-tailed Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 400, +2.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That simply isn&#8217;t me. When I have a bird in my viewfinder, I will attempt to photograph them to the best of my abilities no matter what the lighting or weather conditions are.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from that, I believe that the featureless background accentuates and clearly defines the shape, colors, and the natural beauty of this first winter Red-tailed Hawk.<\/p>\n<p>This immature Red-tailed Hawk might not hang around the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA much longer because when spring arrives it may move on to a more productive hunting area. I am grateful that it was perched on the branches of the tree yesterday and that I had the opportunity to focus on it for a few minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/red-tailed-hawk-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I am sharing two high key type images of an immature Red-tailed Hawk I photographed at Farmington Bay WMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167550,"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":[2663,6577,4170,2497,7856,4101,4828,2450,4033,4169,2386,1123,4067,156,4094,4104,153,4209,4427,373,4193],"class_list":["post-79561","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-birds-of-prey","tag-branches","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-chinese-sumac","tag-clouds","tag-cloudy","tag-first-winter","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-high-key-2","tag-immature","tag-low-light-2","tag-marsh","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-tree","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-high-key-mia-mcpherson-4061.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-kHf","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":79561,"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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":108469,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/04\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-in-a-safety-zone\/","url_meta":{"origin":79561,"position":1},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk In A Safety Zone","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"About two years ago, I photographed this immature Red-tailed Hawk resting above a safety zone sign at Farmington Bay WMA on a cold morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Northern Harrier dive bombing an immature Red-tailed Hawk, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-safety-zone-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-safety-zone-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-safety-zone-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-safety-zone-mia-mcpherson-0191.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":108353,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/11\/28\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-head-on-stare\/","url_meta":{"origin":79561,"position":2},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk Head On Stare","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If I were a vole, I'd tremble in fear under the head on stare of this immature Red-tailed Hawk that I photographed last week at Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk head on stare, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, 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":79561,"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7624.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-marsh-mia-mcpherson-7624.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97676,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/27\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-perched-in-front-of-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":79561,"position":4},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk Perched In Front Of The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I photograph tons of Red-tailed Hawks. I have shared more Red-tailed Hawk articles on my blog and images in my photo galleries than any other birds species.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk perched in front of the Wasatch Mountains, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-branches-mia-mcpherson-7729.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-branches-mia-mcpherson-7729.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-branches-mia-mcpherson-7729.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-branches-mia-mcpherson-7729.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61557,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/11\/20\/one-striking-immature-red-tailed-hawk-that-wowed-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":79561,"position":5},"title":"One Striking Immature Harlan&#8217;s Red-tailed Hawk That &#8220;Wowed&#8221; Me","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This immature Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk is striking with those white polka dot spots on its back, I don't think I have ever seen a young Red-tail where the white spots on the scapulars are so pronounced.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk with pronounced polka dot spots, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-polka-dot-backside-mia-mcpherson-3709.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-polka-dot-backside-mia-mcpherson-3709.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-polka-dot-backside-mia-mcpherson-3709.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-polka-dot-backside-mia-mcpherson-3709.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\/79561","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=79561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}