{"id":98873,"date":"2022-01-12T04:58:45","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T11:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=98873"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T21:23:11","slug":"adult-male-rough-legged-hawk-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/12\/adult-male-rough-legged-hawk-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Male Rough-legged Hawk Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk portrait facing left \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/320, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

For eleven minutes yesterday morning this Rough-legged Hawk was my main point of focus as I took hundreds of photos of him at Bear River MBR.<\/p>\n

I drove up to the refuge very early in the morning and got to this hawk not long after the sun had risen over the Wasatch Mountains in the east.<\/p>\n

There was still a bit of the “golden light” that photographers look for and appreciate near dawn.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Rough-legged Hawk head on portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The male Rough-legged Hawk preened, looked around, shook his feathers, and looked at me sitting in my Jeep head on from his perch on top of a sign.<\/p>\n

Over the years I have noticed that there are two types of Rough-legged Hawks. There are Rough-legged Hawks that take off when you are hundreds of yards away from them and those that are as sticky as the resin we find on pine bark.<\/p>\n

This is one sticky<\/em> hawk.<\/p>\n

I have been photographing a light morph Rough-legged Hawk in this area since the fall of 2016. It might even be the same bird each year.<\/p>\n

In 2015 there was a darker male Rough-legged Hawk in the same area.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk portrait facing right \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I was so grateful to have this Rough-legged Hawk in my viewfinder yesterday morning in the soft golden light.<\/p>\n

It made up for the portraits I wasn’t able to take of him last week due to circumstances beyond my control.<\/p>\n

I believe that Rough-legged Hawks can look very regal…<\/p>\n

\"GoofyGoofy looking Rough-legged Hawk portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/640, ISO 250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Until they don’t!<\/p>\n

This portrait of the male Rough-legged Hawk was taken while he was preening his chest feathers and I couldn’t resist sharing it because when I saw it on my monitor at home the photo made me laugh and after an incident that happened on my way to the refuge I needed to laugh.<\/p>\n

This male Rough-legged Hawk wasn’t doing much and I decided to head down the road. I thanked him out loud and told him that I’ll look for him again.<\/p>\n

As I drove slowly past him he didn’t even ruffle a feather.<\/p>\n

\"RockRock chip in my Jeep’s windshield<\/span><\/p>\n

My drive up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> early yesterday morning was not without its problems. It was still fairly dark and I was just south of Ogden when I heard a bang that sounded like a gun shot.<\/p>\n

Having heard that sound before I knew my Jeep had been struck by a flying rock. Sure enough, there was a gravel truck in front the car that was in front of my Jeep.<\/p>\n

It was dark enough that I couldn’t see if my windshield had been damaged.<\/p>\n

When there was enough light I could tell that my windshield had a new rock chip near the edge of the glass on the drivers side. This is rock chip #3 on my windshield and they have all been caused by semi\/gravel trucks.<\/p>\n

The rock chip looks bigger on my computer screen than it actually is because I used the macro\/selective focus feature on my cell phone to take this image. Safelite will fix that chip later today.<\/p>\n

I’m still glad I went up to the refuge despite the newest rock chip badge on my Jeep.<\/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":"

For eleven minutes yesterday morning this Rough-legged Hawk was my main point of focus as I took hundreds of photos of him at Bear River MBR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98861,"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":[124,27,1148,1087,26],"tags":[4004,2663,4275,2497,4142,1030,4157,730,4033,4169,2386,5023,12689,2670,4062,4094,4046,153,12690,1648,4018,4095,373],"class_list":["post-98873","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-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-close-up","tag-dawn","tag-funny","tag-goofy","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-head-on","tag-left","tag-light-morph","tag-male","tag-marsh","tag-portrait","tag-raptors","tag-right","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-sky","tag-wetlands","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-head-on-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8076.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pIJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107524,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/25\/rough-legged-hawk-season-has-begun\/","url_meta":{"origin":98873,"position":0},"title":"Rough-legged Hawk Season Has Begun","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Rough-legged Hawk season has begun in northern Utah. I spotted my first of season Rough-legged Hawks on the wing last Friday.","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":"Male light morph Rough-legged Hawk on a February morning, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-info-sign-mia-mcpherson-9795.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"January 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Once upon a time, and not so long ago, I could count on seeing this light-morph Rough-legged Hawk at a specific area of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge tour route.","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":"Light Morph Rough-legged Hawk male portrait, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8147.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-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8147.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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