{"id":98794,"date":"2022-01-09T04:30:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T11:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=98794"},"modified":"2024-01-08T03:21:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T10:21:56","slug":"riverbank-red-tailed-hawk-dining-al-fresco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/09\/riverbank-red-tailed-hawk-dining-al-fresco\/","title":{"rendered":"Riverbank Red-tailed Hawk Dining Al Fresco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PortraitPortrait of an immature Red-tailed Hawk on a riverbank \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I photographed an immature Red-tailed Hawk dining al fresco on the bank of the Bear River on my way back to I-15 to head home. The blue in the background of all of these photos is the Bear River with a crust of ice on it that has started to melt.<\/p>\n

I took a few portraits of the striking Red-tailed Hawk.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Red-tailed Hawk with prey on the bank of the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m lucky that I was able to fit this young Red-tailed Hawk in the frame because it was so close to the edge of the road. Had I been on the right shoulder I probably wouldn’t have had to struggle as much to not clip body parts. This image and the next two photos are all full frame and simply re-sized for web presentation.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Red-tailed Hawk eating prey on the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I clipped the tail of the bird in more images than I should have while the young hawk moved around as it ate its prey which I believe was an American Coot.<\/p>\n

I was very pleased with the quality of my images of this immature Red-tailed Hawk. Every feather was crisp and sharply in focus.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Red-tailed Hawk dining on the bank of the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This first winter Red-tailed Hawk was hungry. It stayed with its prey even though there were three vehicles nearby. The young hawk did seem bothered though by the people in a dark blue Rubicon Jeep that got out of their vehicle. It kept an eye on those two people as it tried to consume its catch.<\/p>\n

\"BackBack view of a young Red-tailed Hawk on the Bear River \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Had I not seen the dark brown lump on the riverbank where my brain said “that shouldn’t be there” I might not have gotten images of this immature Red-tailed Hawk at all. I wouldn’t have been able to point the hawk out in time. As it was, we stopped closer to the bird than I would have. <\/p>\n

\"BearBear River immature Red-tailed Hawk \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

But I did see the hawk and I took several hundred images of it having breakfast on the banks of the Bear River after spending time on the auto tour loop of Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a side note, yesterday morning on the way to the refuge that I said out loud that it felt so spring-like that I half expected to see Sandhill Cranes in the fields. Well, I didn’t see them but I heard two separate flocks of Sandhill Cranes calling. I was very surprised to hear the cranes. In January.<\/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<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I photographed an immature Red-tailed Hawk dining al fresco on the bank of the Bear River on my way back to I-15 to head home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98778,"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":[124,27,1148,449,26],"tags":[12681,7476,4007,4008,4170,2497,4142,12680,4286,2450,3747,4109,3987,4033,4169,4064,4067,4046,4106,153,5558,12679,6329,30,4095,373,4193],"class_list":["post-98794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-utah","tag-al-fresco","tag-bank","tag-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","tag-box-elder-county","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-buteos","tag-close-up","tag-dining","tag-eating","tag-first-winter","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-ice","tag-immature","tag-portrait","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-river","tag-river-bank","tag-riverbank","tag-utah-2","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-immature-river-side-eating-mia-mcpherson-5558.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pHs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":125754,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/24\/immature-red-tailed-hawk-in-spring-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":98794,"position":0},"title":"Immature 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