{"id":99035,"date":"2022-01-18T05:43:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T12:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=99035"},"modified":"2022-01-18T05:43:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T12:43:24","slug":"light-morph-adult-male-rough-legged-hawk-in-the-wasatch-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/01\/18\/light-morph-adult-male-rough-legged-hawk-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Morph Adult Male Rough-legged Hawk In The Wasatch Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult male light morph Rough-legged Hawk in the Wasatch Mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday I photographed a light morph adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched in a tree in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a>. Other than a distant Bald Eagle this was really my only bird subject that was close enough to take images of. I found other birds. They were simply too far away.<\/p>\n

I loved the light colored branches of the tree, the darker leaf buds, the pose of the hawk, and having the snow covered Wasatch Mountain peaks in the background.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Rough-legged Hawk in the snowy Wasatch Mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t often see Rough-legged Hawks up in the mountains at such high elevations but this location had the open grassy fields that Rough-legged Hawks prefer to hunt in so I don’t think this specific spot would be considered all that unusual to find this species in.<\/p>\n

This photo and the one above are my favorite images of the male Rough-legged Hawk from yesterday. I find the snowy mountain peak background of both images visually interesting and aesthetically appealing.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Rough-legged Hawk in Summit County \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In a second spot which was closer to the Rough-legged Hawk what I had in the background was plain blue sky. Despite the hawk filling the frame more I don’t find the images of the Rough-legged Hawk with the blue sky in the background nearly as appealing or as visually interesting. Your tastes may vary.<\/p>\n

I didn’t see as many Bald Eagles as I would have expected to find in the mountains at this time of the year yesterday. With our strange and at times warmer than normal winter so far I expect that migrant Bald Eagles are probably in a holding pattern further north for the time being.<\/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":"

Yesterday I photographed a light morph adult male Rough-legged Hawk perched in a tree in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99026,"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":[27,1087],"tags":[4004,2663,2069,6577,4275,2497,4033,4169,2386,8218,2670,4062,4069,4104,153,1648,4018,4050,4328,4427,4176,373],"class_list":["post-99035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-rough-legged-hawks","tag-adult","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-blue-sky","tag-branches","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-leaf-buds","tag-light-morph","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-sky","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-tree","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-wasatch-mountains-mia-mcpherson-0370.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-pLl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100107,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/02\/20\/immature-rough-legged-hawk-perched-on-a-tumbleweed\/","url_meta":{"origin":99035,"position":0},"title":"Immature Rough-legged Hawk Perched On A Tumbleweed","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to spot, point out, and photograph this immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk that was perched on a tumbleweed at Bear River MBR yesterday morning.","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":"Immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk perched on a tumbleweed, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, 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McPherson","date":"February 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week I photographed a light morph, adult male Rough-legged Hawk in the West Desert of Utah with three different backgrounds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Rough-legged Hawk with snowy mountains in the background, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-adult-male-rocks-and-mountains-mia-mcpherson-4371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Rough-legged Hawk staredown, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-stare-down-mia-mcpherson-8178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-stare-down-mia-mcpherson-8178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-stare-down-mia-mcpherson-8178.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-stare-down-mia-mcpherson-8178.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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, 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=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107524,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/25\/rough-legged-hawk-season-has-begun\/","url_meta":{"origin":99035,"position":4},"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, 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=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"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":99035,"position":5},"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, 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=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}