Yesterday morning not long after sunrise I spent some time photographing a light morph, immature Ferruginous Hawk hunting for its breakfast. When I first spotted and pointed out the young Ferruginous Hawk way off in the distance its white breast glowed in the morning light.
The immature hawk used fence posts as elevated perches to scan the grasses as it searched for prey. At times it would leave where it was perched to fly north low over the grasses and at times its hunting forays would take it south.
I first started seeing an immature light morph Ferruginous Hawk in this area this fall on September 10th. This may or may not be the same young Ferruginous Hawk I found that day. There really is no way to tell especially since one morning I saw two individual light morph Ferruginous Hawks in the same general area that I could tell apart because one of the birds had buffier colored feathers on its neck.
There must be good hunting and ample prey in the area or the immature hawk wouldn’t be sticking around. The first winter is hard on young raptors and I didn’t see the hatch year Ferruginous Hawk capture prey while I was with it. That isn’t cause for concern though because at this age they miss more than they hit and this particular hawk looked to be in great condition. It really is a stunning looking hawk.
Observing and photographing the young Ferruginous Hawk yesterday morning was a thrill for me. I could tell when it had spotted prey through my viewfinder and knew when it was going to lift off, mostly. I do wish the hawk had taken off after the prey it could see at better angles than it did. Most of the time I couldn’t get a view of the hawk’s eye as it lifted off or landed on another fence post. I included two of my flight photos of the hawk even though I didn’t have the best views of the bird’s eye simply because I like them.
After a bit the immature Ferruginous Hawk flew towards the south and landed on a distant tree to hunt from that vantage point.
Life is good.
Mia
Please click on the first image to scroll through them at a larger size or to start a slide show.
Click here to see more of my Ferruginous Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.
I used my Nikon D500 with my 500mm VR lens and 1.4x TC attached to create these photos. My ISO was set at 1000, my aperture at 7.1. My shutter speed range from 1/800 to 1/2500.
Great series of shots. Beautiful bird ain’t it? Thanks Mia.
Such a pretty bird. I like the tail shot with the feathers flared.
Oh what a treat – for you, and for us. Thank you.
Fantastic photos!