{"id":8612,"date":"2013-06-17T03:50:32","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T09:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8612"},"modified":"2025-12-30T08:58:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T14:58:36","slug":"adult-red-tailed-hawk-in-a-montana-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/17\/adult-red-tailed-hawk-in-a-montana-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk In A Montana Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk in Montana\u2019s sky<\/span><\/p>\n

There are issues with this image which I will cover shortly but I really liked the pose of this Red-tailed Hawk, the spread of the wings, the flared tail and the great eye contact I was able to capture as the Red-tail looked down towards me as it flew in a bright blue Montana sky.<\/p>\n

The issues I spoke about? Well I wish that the sun had been lower so that the underside of the bird was completely lit up instead of just a portion of the bird’s right wing and a sliver of the hawk’s tail. I also wish there had been a few fluffy, white clouds in the sky to break up the expanse of blue.<\/p>\n

You might notice also that the Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> is going through a molt, there are two shorter secondaries on the right wing and one that is visible on the left.\u00a0 I won’t hold that against this handsome raptor though!<\/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":"

There are issues with this image which I will cover shortly but I really liked the pose of this Red-tailed Hawk, the spread of the wings, the flared tail and the great eye contact I was able to capture as the Red-tail looked down towards me as it flew in a bright blue Montana sky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166247,"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":[1513,27,12,608,449],"tags":[4004,3489,4170,4052,4122,4033,4169,2237,4062,2312,2313,153,4209,4018,165],"class_list":["post-8612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-red-tailed-hawks","tag-adult","tag-buteo","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-male","tag-molt","tag-molting","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sky","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-montana-mia-mcpherson-4887.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2eU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9053,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/30\/a-simple-red-tailed-hawk-photo-from-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":8612,"position":0},"title":"Simple Red-tailed Hawk photo from Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This adult Red-tailed flew by at close range which gave me a very nice view of the underside of its wing that shows it was also molting though it didn't look as raggedy as some of the other adult Red-tailed Hawks looked.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk close up fly by, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, 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15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"These are a few of the Beaverhead County Red-tailed Hawks that I have photographed while on this trip to Montana and Idaho.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk along the South Valley Road, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-flight-miaa-mcpherson-4011.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-juvenile-flight-miaa-mcpherson-4011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-7072.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8991,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/21\/if-only-i-could-fly-like-this-red-tailed-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":8612,"position":4},"title":"If Only I Could Fly Like This Red-tailed Hawk!","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I readily admit that sometimes I daydream about being able to fly like a bird and quite often the bird I wish I were is a Red-tailed Hawk.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk flying over the treeline, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-6627.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-6627.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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