{"id":8991,"date":"2013-07-21T03:50:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T09:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8991"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:57:13","slug":"if-only-i-could-fly-like-this-red-tailed-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/21\/if-only-i-could-fly-like-this-red-tailed-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"If Only I Could Fly Like This Red-tailed Hawk!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk perched in an old dead tree<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this adult Red-tailed Hawk in southwestern Montana last month, its mate had already left the tree and I was anticipating that this male would soon follow her.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from an old, dead tree<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew that the Red-tailed Hawk would lift off shortly after it defecated and sure enough it did. Its feet had just left the branch it had been perched on in this frame.<\/p>\n

\"DownwardDownward sweep of the Red-tail’s wings<\/span><\/p>\n

And with a downward sweep its wings the male Red-tailed was airborne. I wonder what that feels like.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed heading skyward<\/span><\/p>\n

With its wings spread and its tail fanned it flew past the branches of the tree. I’m certain at this point I was paying far more attention to the hawk than it was paying to me.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk flying over the tree line<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Red-tail flew past me I once again wondered what it would be like to be flying so free, unfettered and wild. I’ll never know but it is wonderful to daydream about it.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135296,"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":[1513,27,223,12,449],"tags":[4004,2663,4170,2497,4052,5779,4122,4033,4169,2237,4282,4062,13920,4104,153,4209,165],"class_list":["post-8991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-tailed-hawks","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-flight","tag-fly","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-lift-off","tag-male","tag-mountain-valley","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-6627.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2l1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10019,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/29\/red-tailed-hawk-perched-above-elk-lake-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":8991,"position":0},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk perched above Elk Lake, Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This past September I spotted an adult Red-tailed Hawk perched high on a rocky canyon wall as it looked out over the cold waters of Elk Lake in Beaverhead County, Montana.","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 perched above Elk Lake, Beaverhead \u2013 Deerlodge National Forest, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5479.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-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5479.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5479.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-perched-mia-mcpherson-5479.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":8991,"position":1},"title":"Desert Red-tailed Hawk Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was up in far northern Utah looking for birds last week, I took quite a few Red-tailed Hawk photos. I shared one image a few days ago and here are a few more.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk taking off from a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.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-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.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\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-weather-station-mia-mcpherson-2185.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9053,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/07\/30\/a-simple-red-tailed-hawk-photo-from-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":8991,"position":3},"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, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-flight-molt-mia-mcpherson-7031.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-flight-molt-mia-mcpherson-7031.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-flight-molt-mia-mcpherson-7031.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-flight-molt-mia-mcpherson-7031.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47649,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/11\/five-different-centennial-valley-red-tailed-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":8991,"position":4},"title":"Five Different Centennial Valley Red-tailed Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Red-tailed Hawks were my most photographed species yesterday morning in the Centennial Valley of southwestern Montana and I had fun with them.","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":"Post-poop look from a Red-tailed Hawk, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-post-poop-mia-mcpherson-9264.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-adult-post-poop-mia-mcpherson-9264.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-post-poop-mia-mcpherson-9264.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-post-poop-mia-mcpherson-9264.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40531,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/07\/15\/beaverhead-county-red-tailed-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":8991,"position":5},"title":"Beaverhead County Red-tailed Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 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, 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