{"id":97496,"date":"2021-11-22T05:22:28","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T12:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97496"},"modified":"2026-01-24T16:27:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:27:01","slug":"dark-morph-red-tailed-hawk-lifting-off-with-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/22\/dark-morph-red-tailed-hawk-lifting-off-with-prey\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Morph Red-tailed Hawk Lifting Off With Prey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DarkDark morph Red-tailed Hawk lifting off with prey \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I spotted this dark morph Red-tailed Hawk high on a cliff and I was able to photograph him as he lifted off with prey in his talons.<\/p>\n

I have been spotting and pointing out this hawk and its presumed mate in the same general area since September 15, 2021. This dark morph Red-tailed Hawk is the smaller of the two birds so I believe it is the male of the pair.<\/p>\n

There have been days when this male and his mate have been easy for me to spot. On other occasions it has been much harder for me to find them because they can both blend into their habitat easily. Yesterday when I first spotted the hawks the pair were perched side by side on a high cliff.<\/p>\n

The second time I saw the female she was alone on the high cliff and moments later I found the male not far away on a rock eating something. This image of the dark morph Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> lifting off with his prey was in response to the female Red-tailed Hawk diving towards him.<\/p>\n

I wish I knew what the prey was but unfortunately I was having issues with heat wave distortion yesterday morning and most of the images I took were soft due to that issue. The prey appears to be a mammal but that is about as far as I am willing to hazard a guess.<\/p>\n

When it is as cold as it was yesterday heat wave distortion<\/span><\/a> can be a problem especially when there isn’t even a hint of a breeze and there wasn’t yesterday. Typically this image would go into my delete bin because it is a touch softer than I prefer but I liked the action.<\/p>\n

Now that it has finally gotten colder I am going to keep hoping for a slight breeze each and every time I go out into the field.<\/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":"

Yesterday morning I spotted this dark morph Red-tailed Hawk high on a cliff and I was able to photograph him as he lifted off with prey in his talons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97493,"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":[4004,970,2663,4170,2497,4530,4098,4620,4052,4122,3747,4109,4033,4169,2386,4282,4944,12585,4106,153,4209,4470,4018,3792,5428],"class_list":["post-97496","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-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-dark-morph","tag-desert","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-lift-off","tag-lifting-off","tag-mammal","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rocks","tag-sky","tag-take-off","tag-taking-off"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-dark-adult-prey-mia-mcpherson-5213.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pmw","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":97496,"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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(Graphic)","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't had many opportunities to photograph the Harlan's subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk so I was thrilled yesterday when I spotted a juvenile dark morph Harlan's Hawk feeding on a dead American Coot on the bank of a creek.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harlan\u2019s Hawk juvenile, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-harlans-mia-mcpherson-3978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-tailed-hawk-harlans-mia-mcpherson-3978.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Red-tailed Hawk taking flight, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-1701.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-immature-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-1701.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-1701.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-1701.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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