{"id":95210,"date":"2021-09-19T05:35:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T11:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=95210"},"modified":"2026-01-24T16:15:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:15:43","slug":"immature-light-morph-red-tailed-hawk-plus-a-dark-morph-adult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/09\/19\/immature-light-morph-red-tailed-hawk-plus-a-dark-morph-adult\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Light Morph Red-tailed Hawk Plus A Dark Morph Adult"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Last week I was up in northern Utah and spotted lots of raptors which included two Golden Eagles, American Kestrels, Turkey Vultures, and quite a few Red-tailed Hawks.<\/p>\n

When I spotted the light colored breast of this immature light morph Red-tailed Hawk from a distance it seemed to glow in the morning light. The young raptor was perched on a lichen covered rock with sage behind it.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature light morph Red-tailed Hawk rousing on lichen covered rocks \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I took a nice long series of photos of the young hawk as it looked around from its colorful perch. When the hawk roused I got ready for lift off and flight photos.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature light morph Red-tailed Hawk in desert habitat \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then when the immature Red-tailed Hawk turned its head towards the north I thought it might take off in that direction.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature light morph Red-tailed Hawk taking flight \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

But then it lifted off from the lichen covered perch and flew towards the south. The young hawk had just barely left the rocks when I took this photo.<\/p>\n

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

And by the next frame that I took the red tail had gained altitude. I liked the great view of the raptors dangling legs and talons in this photo.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature light morph Red-tailed Hawk flying fast \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the young Red-tailed Hawk flew past me with the hillside of the desert mountains behind it.<\/p>\n

I spotted two more immature light morph Red-tailed Hawks in the same general area that were much farther away from the road than this one was that I did not take images of. They may or may not have been siblings.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult dark morph Red-tailed Hawk front view \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier in the morning and a few miles away from where I spotted the young hawks I found a stunning dark morph Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> adult perched high on a cliff face with the blue sky behind it.<\/p>\n

At first I was about 97% sure this was a Red-tailed Hawk and not a dark morph Swainson’s Hawk which are also found in the same area. The dark morphs of both species can be a challenge to differentiate even for someone with as much experience as I have with identifying them. Plus most dark morph Swainson’s Hawks do not show signs of the “bib” on their upper chest that is generally seen on that species.\u00a0 Not being able to see the wing tips or tail in this pose made me feel about 3% uncertain of my ID of Red-tailed Hawk.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult dark morph Red-tailed Hawk back view \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the hawk flew out to a field to the east, missed the prey it was after, and flew back to land on a new perch on the cliff with its back facing me. Even before the dark morph adult landed that 3% of uncertainty about my ID had vanished into the desert air.<\/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":"

When I spotted the light colored breast of this immature light morph Red-tailed Hawk from a distance it seemed to glow in the morning light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95132,"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":[27,1148,449,26],"tags":[4004,2519,11480,2663,4008,4170,2497,5131,5100,4530,4098,4052,4122,4033,4169,2386,4067,3291,9979,2670,153,4209,4921,5858,4470,2817,4057,4018,2315,30,4193],"class_list":["post-95210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-artemisia-tridentata","tag-big-sagebrush","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-box-elder-county","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-cliff","tag-cliff-face","tag-dark-morph","tag-desert","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-lichen","tag-lichens","tag-light-morph","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rock","tag-rock-face","tag-rocks","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-sky","tag-summer-3","tag-utah-2","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-1701.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-oLE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107573,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/28\/desert-red-tailed-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":95210,"position":0},"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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