Adult Red-tailed Hawk Lifting Off

Adult Red-tailed Hawk perched on a juniper in the West Desert – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

Two days ago I found 5, possibly 6, Red-tailed Hawks while out in the West Desert looking for birds to photograph. The one hawk was so far away that I couldn’t be sure that it was a Red-tailed because of the heavy smoke that was in the air. I did find two Red-tailed Hawks that were close together and these photos are of the second of the two.

This adult Red-tailed Hawk was perched on a juniper when I first spotted it. Although the Red-tailed Hawk looked a touch on the ragged side I thought the raptor looked handsome.

Adult Red-tailed Hawk lifting off from a juniper on a smoky day – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

It didn’t take long before the Red-tailed Hawk raised its wings to lift off from the juniper with a smoky blue sky in the background. For some reason the sky looked less smoky when I was pointing my lens to the west but when I pointed it towards the east the sky looked dreadful.

Adult Red-tailed Hawk after taking off from a juniper – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

I caught the Red-tailed Hawk in flight the split second it took for the hawk to fully spread its and as its talons left the juniper in this photo.

Red-tailed Hawk adult in flight over a juniper – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

And in this image the Red-tail was just slightly above the juniper. I liked the view of the dangling talons in this frame and how the underside of the hawk’s left wing was illuminated.

In the interest of full disclosure the left wing tip was so close to the edge of the frame that I added a few pixels there in post processing. I don’t like doing that kind of post-processing with my photos but I made an exception in this case because I liked the flight pose of the bird.

Red-tailed Hawk adult gaining altitude on a smoky day – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

When the hawk gained altitude the sky looked a little less smoky to my eyes and I was happy about that. That smoky haze has been driving me a touch batty for months on end.

Adult Red-tailed Hawk flying through a smoky sky – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

This Red-tailed Hawk sailed across the road towards a dry wash and I soon lost sight of it. After I photographed this hawk I went back to the very cooperative Red-tail that was to the west and took a nice series of images of it. Photos of that bird to come soon.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.

These images were taken and are shared in sequential order.