{"id":94774,"date":"2021-09-11T06:08:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T12:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=94774"},"modified":"2021-09-15T04:47:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T10:47:54","slug":"adult-red-tailed-hawk-lifting-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/11\/adult-red-tailed-hawk-lifting-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk Lifting Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk perched on a juniper in the West Desert – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I found 5, possibly 6, Red-tailed Hawks while out in the West Desert looking for birds to photograph. The one hawk was so far away that I couldn’t be sure that it was a Red-tailed because of the heavy smoke that was in the air. I did find two Red-tailed Hawks that were close together and these photos are of the second of the two.<\/p>\n

This adult Red-tailed Hawk was perched on a juniper when I first spotted it. Although the Red-tailed Hawk looked a touch on the ragged side I thought the raptor looked handsome.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a juniper on a smoky day – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It didn’t take long before the Red-tailed Hawk raised its wings to lift off from the juniper with a smoky blue sky in the background. For some reason the sky looked less smoky when I was pointing my lens to the west but when I pointed it towards the east the sky looked dreadful.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk after taking off from a juniper – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I caught the Red-tailed Hawk in flight the split second it took for the hawk to fully spread its and as its talons left the juniper in this photo.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk adult in flight over a juniper – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

And in this image the Red-tail was just slightly above the juniper. I liked the view of the dangling talons in this frame and how the underside of the hawk’s left wing was illuminated.<\/p>\n

In the interest of full disclosure the left wing tip was so close to the edge of the frame that I added a few pixels there in post processing. I don’t like doing that kind of post-processing with my photos but I made an exception in this case because I liked the flight pose of the bird.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk adult gaining altitude on a smoky day – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

When the hawk gained altitude the sky looked a little less smoky to my eyes and I was happy about that. That smoky haze has been driving me a touch batty for months on end.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk flying through a smoky sky – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This Red-tailed Hawk sailed across the road towards a dry wash and I soon lost sight of it. After I photographed this hawk I went back to the very cooperative Red-tail that was to the west and took a nice series of images of it. Photos of that bird to come soon.<\/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

These images were taken and are shared in sequential order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It didn’t take long before the Red-tailed Hawk raised its wings to lift off from the juniper with a smoky blue sky in the background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95027,"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":[27,449,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,7021,2663,4170,2497,4098,4052,4122,4033,4169,2059,3914,2691,4104,153,4209,10452,10404,2315,5428,2690],"class_list":["post-94774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-altitude","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-desert","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-haze","tag-juniper","tag-juniperus-osteosperma","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-smoky","tag-summer-3","tag-taking-off","tag-utah-juniper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-0646.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-oEC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94980,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/13\/cooperative-west-desert-red-tailed-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":94774,"position":0},"title":"Cooperative West Desert Red-tailed Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I photographed a very cooperative adult Red-tailed Hawk that was next to a road in the West Desert of Utah on a smoky morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk adult looking over its shoulder from a juniper, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-juniper-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0857.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-juniper-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0857.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-juniper-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0857.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-juniper-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0857.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":95019,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/15\/more-west-desert-red-tailed-hawk-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":94774,"position":1},"title":"More West Desert Red-tailed Hawk Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I went out into the West Desert yesterday and came back with more Red-tailed Hawk images that I was delighted to have taken and that I am happy with.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk perched on a White Fir, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-white-fir-mia-mcpherson-1419.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-white-fir-mia-mcpherson-1419.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-white-fir-mia-mcpherson-1419.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-white-fir-mia-mcpherson-1419.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73675,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/12\/hawk-in-the-west-desert-perched-in-a-dead-juniper\/","url_meta":{"origin":94774,"position":2},"title":"Hawk In The West Desert Perched In A Dead Juniper","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't usually share photos where the main subject is facing away from me but I liked the alert pose of this raptor as it perched in the dead but distant juniper tree.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Desert scenery and a hawk in a dead juniper, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-in-a-distant-tree-mia-mcpherson-4581.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-in-a-distant-tree-mia-mcpherson-4581.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-in-a-distant-tree-mia-mcpherson-4581.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-in-a-distant-tree-mia-mcpherson-4581.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26835,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/22\/west-desert-wanderings-thrashers-and-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":94774,"position":3},"title":"West Desert Wanderings – Thrashers and Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I went wandering in the West Desert of Utah yesterday because the views are always great and because I hoped to find a few birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Sage Thrasher with prey in Tooele County, West Desert, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sage-thrasher-prey-mia-mcpherson-6931.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105685,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/11\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-in-the-west-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":94774,"position":4},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk In The West Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month while I wandered in the West Desert I found an immature Red-tailed Hawk perched on a wooden fence post in the foothills of some sky island mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Red-tailed Hawk preening a single feather, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-post-mia-mcpherson-2322.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-post-mia-mcpherson-2322.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-post-mia-mcpherson-2322.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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