Good morning everyone!
I had a great time photographing three recently fledged Red-tailed Hawks from two different nests in northern Utah yesterday morning.
The two Red-tailed Hawk nests are separated by a few miles and I have been anxiously awaiting seeing the chicks leave their nests, beginning to explore their world, and to learning how to hunt on their own. My wait is over!
The northern nest had two chicks fledge and they are the shown in the top eleven images. They were very active and moved around often which is why my photos show them in many different settings.
I only saw and photographed one of the chicks that fledged from the southern nest and it is shown in the last three photos of the gallery above. I have a feeling it will be a darker morph than the older Red-tailed Hawks I photographed yesterday.
These striking young raptors have many challenges ahead of them as they learn how to fend for themselves and I wish them nothing but the best.
About my photos, some of these images are full frame, some are cropped. I was always at a respectful distance even with the close up images thanks to my long lens and teleconverter.
I was using my Nikon D500 with my 500mm f4 VR lens attached. I took some with my 1.4x teleconverter attached and for some I removed it. My settings for aperture, ISO and exposure varied and when I get time I will try to add them to the individual images in the gallery.
I could write a short article on these recently fledged hawks and my experiences with them yesterday morning but I decided to let the photos and their titles do that for me today. Click on the first photo in the gallery to start the slide show or to scroll through them. Enjoy!
Life is good. Stay safe.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.
What a stunning display of my favorite bird! Red Tailed hawks have always captured my attention and these shots have put them in my front yard. Wonderful! Thanks Mia.
Many, many thanks.
I had a challenging day today and this is a perfect antidote.
Excellent set of images!
Wonderful series….they already look fierce…
Fantastic photos! Lucky you!!
0OPs! Sorry , Make that Mia. My bad!
Delightful! Delightful! Delightful! I wonder why the clenched talon and the visible nictitating membrane — imagining what else could be just out of frame and triggering that response.
Marty, the young Red-tailed was just relaxing when it clenched its talon. As for the nictitating membrane I have several images of this fledgling with the membrane over its eye, it may have been trying to clear a bit of smudge out of its eye. Or a bug, there were lots and lots of bugs.
Hi, Mia,
Are the rufous colored feathers on the breast typical of fledgling Redtails and if so how long do they last? Thanks, John
John, those rufous (I call it apricot) feathers on the breast are typically gone by the end of August here, depending on when the chicks hatch of course.
Terrific capture beautifully done as always! Your love and delight show in every moment. Thank you.
Thanks Ilze, these birds were such a joy to see and photograph.
I am currently enjoying two immature who, as noted by Marlene above, are so vocal. They are flying up and down my valley, screaming the entire time. Such a pleasure and fun to see your photos today.
Margot, these three only seemed to be noisy when they could see an adult, otherwise they were quiet.
Interesting about having an adult nearby. Will pay attention to that. At least once yesterday there were two adults nearby. These are older juveniles than the ones you caught on film.
I thought the last three photos the hawk was much younger, so much younger I couldn’t believe they were from the same nest. But then I read on and saw they were from the two different nests. Beautiful images, my favorite it the clenched foot. The pose and the way it is holding it’s wings along with the glare are very striking.
Thanks April.
Absolutely SPLENDID!!!
Thank you Nicky. 🙂
Wonderful series of shots Mia
Thanks Ricardo!
Outstanding images Mia !! So very sharp & drisp !!
Thank you Gary! They were fun to photograph.
Were they noisy? I’ve had the good fortune to see red tails fledglings leaving their nests for the first time twice, once in Utah near Vernal, in the Unitas, the other here in Nova Scotia where I now live. They were so NOISY!! They didn’t want to take that first leap! It was wonderful to watch.
Thanks so much for these images, and for all of your work! Keeping me sane…
Marlene, the two older young hawks were very noisy when they could see the adult way up on the hill and the younger one was noisy when it saw an adult flying over the mountain. When they weren’t seeing an adult they were relatively quiet.
And my pleasure, I am glad you are enjoying the images I post.