{"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_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":[27,449,358,26,1314],"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":[],"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