{"id":9650,"date":"2013-09-29T04:54:07","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T10:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9650"},"modified":"2025-09-30T07:32:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T12:32:52","slug":"playing-favorites-rough-legged-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/29\/playing-favorites-rough-legged-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing Favorites – Rough-legged Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RoughieRough-legged Hawk on a rock – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/640, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 357mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Rough-legged Hawks\u00a0are on their way south from their Arctic breeding grounds and will soon be making their appearance here in Utah.<\/p>\n

Over the past week the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains above the valley have gone from sporting\u00a0bits of\u00a0fall color to having some snow at the top.<\/p>\n

I’ve enjoyed looking up at the mountains each evening and seeing the snow glow pink as the sun sets.\u00a0Seeing that\u00a0snow reminds me… the Roughies are coming!<\/p>\n

My series of photos of this Rough-legged Hawk taken at Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> are some of my favorite images because the hawk was very cooperative.<\/p>\n

I was the one who first spotted the Roughie and pointed it out. After that, I photographed them and observed their behavior and the fine details in their plumage for about 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

I took tons of images of the young hawk and can’t pick a favorite among them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Rough-legged Hawks are on their way south from their Arctic breeding grounds and will soon be making their appearance here in Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158587,"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":[511,27,1022,1087,26],"tags":[970,2663,4275,2497,11978,4620,4033,4169,4067,2670,4104,153,4921,1648,4836,4193],"class_list":["post-9650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-desert-island","tag-fall","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-light-morph","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-rock","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-roughies","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-mia-mcpherson-1560.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2vE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10025,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/30\/rough-legged-hawk-on-a-foggy-winter-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":9650,"position":0},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk on a foggy winter day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday I saw my first of the season Rough-legged Hawks and I was absolutely thrilled. There were definitely five different birds and a possible sixth.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on a foggy day, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3699,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/11\/20\/more-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":9650,"position":1},"title":"More Rough-legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been very pleased to add so many images of Rough-legged Hawks to my portfolio in just the past week and hopefully these Roughies will stick around until late February of next year so there will be many more opportunities.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk in flight with the Stansbury Mountains in the background, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0201.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-stansbury-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0201.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":120091,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/24\/rough-legged-hawk-on-a-no-swimming-sign\/","url_meta":{"origin":9650,"position":2},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk On A No Swimming Sign","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 24, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"While looking for a photo to share this morning I found this immature Rough-legged Hawk on a No Swimming Sign with the snowy Wasatch Mountains in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on a No Swimming sign on the causeway to Antelope Island, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Rough-legged-Hawk-no-swimming-sign-ma-mcpheerson-9223.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":96216,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/10\/13\/on-the-lookout-for-my-first-of-season-rough-legged-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":9650,"position":3},"title":"On The Lookout For My First Of Season Rough-legged Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I am now on the lookout for my first of season Rough-legged Hawk. I hope to spot one soon.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male light morph Rough-legged Hawk on a rock pile, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4354.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4354.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\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4371.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4371.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44809,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/02\/06\/rough-legged-hawk-lichens-and-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":9650,"position":5},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk, Lichens and Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Rough-legged Hawk on a snow and lichen covered rock the light was decent and brought out the colors of the hawk and the orange lichen covering the rocky outcropping it was perched on.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on a snow and lichen covered rock, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-winter-lichen-mia-mcpherson-3592.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-winter-lichen-mia-mcpherson-3592.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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