{"id":97676,"date":"2021-11-27T06:04:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T13:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=97676"},"modified":"2026-01-24T16:29:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T22:29:39","slug":"immature-red-tailed-hawk-perched-in-front-of-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/11\/27\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-perched-in-front-of-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk Perched In Front Of The Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Red-tailed Hawk perched in front of the Wasatch Mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I photograph tons of Red-tailed Hawks. I have shared more Red-tailed Hawk articles on my blog and images in my photo galleries than any other bird species.<\/p>\n

I find Red-tailed Hawks in the deserts, foothills, mountains, marshes, valleys, canyons, ranchlands, sagebrush steppes, alpine meadows, farmlands, forests, along freeways, and in many different kinds of urban settings.<\/p>\n

Each and every time I spot a Red-tailed Hawk I can feel my heart skip a beat and my pulse quicken because I don’t always know what kind of images I will be able to take of them. I don’t always know what morph they will be when I spot them from a long way away or whether they will be adult or immature birds until I can get close enough to pick up on visual keys.<\/p>\n

I have bird guide quality images of these raptors. I also have some photos that I like simply because they show the Red-tailed Hawks in a way that most people see them. This is one of those photos.<\/p>\n

When I first took a series of photos of this immature Red-tailed Hawk perched in front of the Wasatch Mountains I wasn’t sure if I liked the resulting images at all.<\/p>\n

I considered deleting each and every one of them because of the messy, out of focus branches in front of the young bird of prey. It has been close to a year since I photographed the Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> and I’m glad now that I didn’t just delete the photos.<\/p>\n

I like the snow tipped Wasatch Mountains in the back ground with some parts of the peaks still in the shadows. I like the regal pose of the young Red-tailed Hawk, the light on the bird, and now I don’t find those light colored, blurry branches nearly as distracting as I did when I first took the photos.<\/p>\n

Over time I’ve come to appreciate this image just as it is.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I photograph tons of Red-tailed Hawks. I have shared more Red-tailed Hawk articles on my blog and images in my photo galleries than any other birds species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97724,"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":[27,1022,697,449,26],"tags":[970,2663,6577,4170,2497,4620,4033,4169,2386,4067,4094,4069,4104,153,4209,4677,4050,4427,4095,4193],"class_list":["post-97676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-branches","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-fall","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-immature","tag-marsh","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-shadows","tag-snow","tag-tree","tag-wetlands","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-branches-mia-mcpherson-7729.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ppq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107272,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/15\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-with-mountains-in-the-background\/","url_meta":{"origin":97676,"position":0},"title":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk With Mountains In The Background","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"My best bird photos from yesterday morning at Farmington Bay WMA were of an immature Red-tailed Hawk with the shadowed Wasatch Mountain slopes in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Red-tailed Hawk on a nest box in early morning light, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.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-nestbox-mia-mcpherson-0726.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Hawk in front of the Wasatch Mountains, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-fall-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-fall-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3657.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-fall-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3657.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-fall-mountains-mia-mcpherson-3657.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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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