{"id":80204,"date":"2021-03-03T05:55:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T12:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=80204"},"modified":"2025-03-01T15:35:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T21:35:28","slug":"west-desert-male-rough-legged-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/03\/west-desert-male-rough-legged-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"West Desert Male Rough-legged Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning\u00a0 was clear, bright, chilly, and I spent ten minutes photographing an adult male Rough-legged Hawk that I found in the West Desert. After pointing out the hawk, I got ready to photograph him.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert Rough-legged Hawk male perched on a fence post \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The male Rough-legged Hawk was perched on a juniper fence post with foothills behind it that had some snow on them. By using the elevated perch the hawk scanned the grassy slopes for prey. In this photo I believe the hawk may have spotted prey off in the distance.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Rough-legged Hawk lifting off from a fence post \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

A few frames later the male Rough-legged Hawk lifted off from the wooden fence post, turned to the north, and kited over over the grassy foothills. I did not see it catch prey.<\/p>\n

I have other photos of this Rough-legged Hawk on this fence post that I plan to share sometime in the future but this lift off photo was one of my favorites from yesterday.\u00a0 I almost clipped the tip of his right wing in this frame.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Rough-legged Hawk on top of a large boulder \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the morning I spotted the Rough-legged Hawk again but he lifted off and landed on a huge boulder to the south. The light angle I had wasn’t quite as optimal as I had had earlier in the morning although I still liked the photos I took of him.<\/p>\n

The day before I found this hawk I had photographed another male at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>. I was disappointed with those images because they were soft due to heat wave distortion. Yesterday there was enough of a breeze on the foothills that all of my photos of this male Roughie were sharp.<\/p>\n

Our Rough-legged Hawks<\/span><\/a> will be migrating soon. I’m delighted that I found this male in the West Desert yesterday. Will he be the last one I photograph this season? I hope not.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Rough-legged Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning\u00a0 was clear, bright, chilly, and I spent ten minutes photographing an adult male Rough-legged Hawk that I found in the West Desert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1087,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,4540,2663,4138,4275,2497,898,4052,4033,4169,2386,3291,4282,4944,4062,4104,153,1648,3792,8917],"class_list":["post-80204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-alert","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-boulder","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-fence-post","tag-flight","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lichen","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-male","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-take-off","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t