{"id":97011,"date":"2021-11-06T05:49:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T11:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97011"},"modified":"2025-10-01T15:46:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:46:30","slug":"how-i-found-my-first-of-season-rough-legged-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/06\/how-i-found-my-first-of-season-rough-legged-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Found My First Of Season Rough-legged Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Rough-legged Hawks with prey plus a Common Raven – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The story behind how I found not one but three Rough-legged Hawks yesterday is one I won’t soon forget. I was feeling as if I was going to go home without any decent images of any birds because the bird activity had been slow.<\/p>\n

My phone rang and it was my dear friend Billy Fenimore. We were talking when I spotted a hawk on the ground from a very long distance.<\/p>\n

I shouted “Stop” and at that point I thought the hawk was a Ferruginous Hawk that I had seen in the area earlier in the morning. It was that hawk that I expected.<\/p>\n

By the time I hung up my phone, got my lens focused on the bird, and pointed it out to Ron, I could see that it was an adult male, light morph Rough-legged Hawk.<\/p>\n

My first of season sighting of this species! I “whooped” with joy because I have been expecting the arrival of these arctic breeding raptors that overwinter here in northern Utah and other locations.<\/p>\n

What I didn’t know was that something fascinating was about to unfold. The adult male, light morph Rough-legged Hawk had prey and I could see that he was attempting to eat it.<\/p>\n

Then my peripheral vision caught movement beyond my viewfinder and I spotted a second Rough-legged Hawk flying directly towards the male on the ground.<\/p>\n

When that hawk landed they had a scuffle and the adult female ended up on the prey. I figured she would eat the prey and the two Rough-legged Hawks would fly off.<\/p>\n

But again I spotted another bird flying in. It was a Common Raven. A very gutsy Common Raven that proceeded to try to swipe the prey from the female Rough-legged Hawk.<\/p>\n

This photo shows the adult male on the left side, the female Rough-legged lifting off with her stolen prey in her left talon and the Common Raven lifting off because the female was flying directly towards it.<\/p>\n

I took a bunch of documentary photos of the action but decided to use this one to illustrate my story. This is a huge crop from the original file because all three of these birds were so far away.<\/p>\n

After this image was taken another Common Raven flew in and they both chased the female Rough-legged Hawk in the air until they disappeared from my sight.<\/p>\n

I think those ravens must have been very hungry to mess with not one but two Rough-legged Hawks.<\/p>\n

It was a very memorable first of year sighting of these Rough-legged Hawks. The kind where you sit there wondering if<\/em> you really saw what you saw.<\/p>\n

Later in the morning I spotted a third Rough-legged Hawk perched on a juniper but I wasn’t able to get images of it.<\/p>\n

You have to get to the birds before they lift off to photograph them and unfortunately that didn’t happen with that Roughie.<\/p>\n

That sighting wasn’t as dramatic but I could see that it was another light morph adult male and I was delighted to see him.<\/p>\n

My Rough-legged Hawk season in northern Utah is on!<\/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. Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Common Raven photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a very memorable first of year sighting of these Rough-legged Hawks. The kind where you sit there wondering if you really saw what you saw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97003,"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":[27,219,1087,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,970,2663,4275,2497,1544,4257,4620,4070,788,7017,4033,4169,2386,4062,4106,153,4751,2732,1648,5404,4055,30,4088],"class_list":["post-97011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-common-ravens","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-common-raven","tag-corvus-corax","tag-fall","tag-female","tag-first-of-year","tag-foothills","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-male","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-raven","tag-ravens","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-sighting","tag-tooele-county","tag-utah-2","tag-west-desert"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/rough-legged-hawks-common-raven-prey-mia-mcpherson-3342.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-peH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"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":97011,"position":0},"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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Rough-legged Hawk Surveying The Foothills Of The Stansbury Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been four years since I photographed this gorgeous male Rough-legged Hawk as he surveyed the foothills of the Stansbury Mountains in Utah's West Desert.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Rough-legged Hawk in the West Desert of Utah, Tooele County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-fence-post-utah-mia-mcpherson-6308.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-fence-post-utah-mia-mcpherson-6308.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First winter Ferruginous Hawk lifting off with its feet still on the pole, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ferruginous-hawk-power-pole-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-4930-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ferruginous-hawk-power-pole-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-4930-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ferruginous-hawk-power-pole-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-4930-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ferruginous-hawk-power-pole-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-4930-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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& Rough-legged Hawks Have Feathered Legs","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"North America has two hawk (buteos) species that have feathered tarsi, or legs, those two species are Ferruginous Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ferruginous Hawk showing its feathered legs (tarsi), West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ferruginous-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-4949.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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