{"id":9957,"date":"2013-10-25T05:26:42","date_gmt":"2013-10-25T11:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=9957"},"modified":"2025-04-02T04:21:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T09:21:26","slug":"wishful-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/10\/25\/wishful-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Wishful Thinking And A Rough-legged Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago I photographed this Rough-legged Hawk with a vole in its talons as it flew along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> with the Great Salt Lake in the background.<\/p>\n

\"Rough-leggedRough-legged Hawk with a vole in flight over the Great Salt Lake – Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1200, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, the hawk caught its own prey, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The weather had been horrible in the morning so I didn’t get to the causeway until afternoon when the clouds had cleared up and it seemed that the blue of the water was intensified by the crisp blue winter sky overhead.<\/p>\n

Bird photography has been very slow for me for some time now, yesterday I went out but didn’t even click the shutter button.\u00a0\u00a0I keep hoping that I will see\u00a0a few handsome\u00a0Rough-legged Hawks through my view finder.<\/p>\n

Wishful thinking, right?<\/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":"

Two years ago I photographed this Rough-legged Hawk with a vole in its talons as it flew along the causeway to Antelope Island State Park with the Great Salt Lake in the background. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,1087,26],"tags":[970,2663,4275,2497,4620,4052,4122,4005,4169,4067,2670,4106,153,1648,4290,3996,4193],"class_list":["post-9957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-rough-legged-hawks","category-utah","tag-autumn","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-lagopus","tag-buteos","tag-fall","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-hawks","tag-immature","tag-light-morph","tag-prey","tag-raptors","tag-rough-legged-hawk","tag-vole","tag-water","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/rough-legged-hawk-vole-mia-mcpherson-9433.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2AB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4041,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/19\/rough-legged-hawk-kiting-being-bit-and-eating-on-the-fly\/","url_meta":{"origin":9957,"position":0},"title":"Rough-legged 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Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Being at eye level with this Rough-legged Hawk carrying prey along the causeway to Antelope Island is an experience I won't soon forget.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk in flight with prey on a brisk December day, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/rough-legged-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-9353.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/rough-legged-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-9353.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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There were definitely five different birds and a possible sixth.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rough-legged Hawk on a foggy day, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-flying-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6340,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/13\/appearing-soon-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":9957,"position":5},"title":"Appearing Soon – Rough-legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last winter was awesome for seeing Rough-legged Hawks and I am hoping they had another great breeding season and that they will show up here in large numbers to over winter.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roughie perched on a mile marker post on the causeway to Antelope Island State Park, Utah. 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