{"id":94980,"date":"2021-09-13T05:14:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T11:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=94980"},"modified":"2026-01-24T15:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:52:59","slug":"cooperative-west-desert-red-tailed-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/13\/cooperative-west-desert-red-tailed-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperative West Desert Red-tailed Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk in front of mountains on a smoky day \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I was surprised by how calm this adult Red-tailed Hawk was. Usually the adults are far more skittish than young hawks but this one was exceptionally confiding.<\/p>\n

The adult hawk only moved once while I observed and photographed it and that was just by going to the top of another nearby juniper.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk in West Desert foothill habitat \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm at 50mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo shows habitat where I found the Red-tailed Hawk after driving past it to get a good light angle. Can you see the hawk?<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk in West Desert foothill habitat – Inset<\/span><\/p>\n

The inset pinpoints the Red-tailed Hawk perched high on a juniper.<\/p>\n

Almost directly above the Red-tailed there is a tiny black speck in the sky, I didn’t notice that bird flying over when I took this photo but when I blew the file up on my screen it appeared to be a Cooper’s Hawk.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Red-tailed Hawk looking over the foothills \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult Red-tailed Hawk moved to the second juniper next to the road. The hawk appeared to be scanning the ground below it for prey.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk adult looking over its shoulder from a juniper \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult Red-tailed Hawk seemed undisturbed by the movement of the vehicle I was in despite it being moved a few times for different angles of light and backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\"WestWest Desert Red-tailed Hawk against a smoky sky \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/800, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact this adult Red-tailed Hawk was so accommodating that I thanked the raptor and left it where it was perched after taking this photo.<\/p>\n

I like the one errant head feather that showed in most of the photos that I took of this Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> for some reason. I can’t explain why but I do. In the last image I also liked being able to see the one faded tail feather that this hawk will probably molt very 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94952,"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":[4004,4170,2497,12282,12283,4098,12281,4608,7017,683,4033,4169,2059,6306,10265,4674,2691,10014,4069,6689,4104,153,4209,4018,10452,10404,2315,2690],"class_list":["post-94980","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-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-calm-cooperative","tag-confiding","tag-desert","tag-errant","tag-feather","tag-foothills","tag-habitat-2","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-haze","tag-head","tag-inset","tag-junipers","tag-juniperus-osteosperma","tag-look","tag-mountains","tag-over-the-shoulder","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-sky","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-smoky","tag-summer-3","tag-utah-juniper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-juniper-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0857.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-oHW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94774,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/11\/adult-red-tailed-hawk-lifting-off\/","url_meta":{"origin":94980,"position":0},"title":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk Lifting Off","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk after taking off 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-adult-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-0646.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-adult-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-0646.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-0646.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-west-desert-mia-mcpherson-0646.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116873,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-on-a-west-desert-weather-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":94980,"position":1},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk On A West Desert Weather Station","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A West Desert weather station wasn't the prettiest perch, but that is where I found this handsome Red-tailed Hawk last week when I went looking for birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Red-tailed Hawk on a West Desert weather station, West Desert, Tooele County, 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":106793,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/04\/red-tailed-hawk-waiting-for-the-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":94980,"position":2},"title":"Red-tailed Hawk Waiting For The Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My favorite of the hawks I photographed in the West Desert yesterday was this adult Red-tailed Hawk on a fence post waiting for the morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk waiting for the morning light, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-before-dawns-light-mia-mcpherson-8034.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-before-dawns-light-mia-mcpherson-8034.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-before-dawns-light-mia-mcpherson-8034.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-before-dawns-light-mia-mcpherson-8034.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":92977,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/05\/poppies-birds-trees-butterflies-and-a-smoky-haze\/","url_meta":{"origin":94980,"position":3},"title":"Poppies, Birds, Trees, Butterflies And A Smoky Haze","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The first time I raised my lens yesterday morning it was for blooming Prickly Poppies that were along the shoulder of the bumpy gravel road.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blooming Prickly Poppy in a smoky haze at dawn, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/prickly-poppy-tooele-county-mia-mcpherson-3430.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":94980,"position":4},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-desert-mia-mcpherson-2032.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":94980,"position":5},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-post-mia-mcpherson-2322.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\/94980","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=94980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}