On my mid-July journey to southwestern Montana it seemed like there were juvenile hawks every where I looked, the east and west side of the Centennial Valley and the south and north sides too.
Rough-legged Hawks breed in the Arctic so we don't see them around here in northern Utah during the summer.
Just an image I took yesterday of this male Northern Harrier in flight. As simple as the image is I like the great eye contact it has.
I am one of those people who love deserts and the West Desert of Utah is once again beckoning to me. The weather here in Utah is very changeable right now, it can feel like spring one day and the next it still feels like winter but it won't be long before the weather levels out and the west desert will begin to green up.
There aren't many people in the west desert of Utah thus the raptors and other birds that live there are not habituated to people so they are very skittish even when using a mobile blind.
This Northern Harrier displayed interesting behavior, it didn't appear to be hunting but it would dive into the vegetation where it would make a sound that reminded me of parrots chattering.
It seems that people either love high key images or they hate them. Personally; I believe that when a high key image is done well that they can be very appealing and have a place for them in my portfolio.
Last week though I had the opportunity to photograph a very cooperative Rough-legged Hawk preening.
Ferruginous Hawks are the largest hawks found in North America, the "regalis" in the latin name means "kingly" or "regal" and I have to agree with those descriptions.
Photographing birds during Autumn is a wonderful time for me in Utah, the beautiful fall colors delight and enthrall me, the air gets nippy and I find myself feeling a surge of energy whenever I am outdoors.
This very cooperative juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk was used to the people who frequented Sawgrass County Park and it would land very close to humans.
For the past two days I have been having an amazing time photographing a family of Red-tailed Hawks; including at least 4 juveniles, in Tooele County, Utah
Last Friday I came upon this Swainson's Hawk; not just once but twice, perched on signs very close to the road.
Tt was the first time that I have ever seen a Northern Harrier building a nest. It more than made my day!
I'm looking forward to seeing red-tailed hawks in the high country of Utah and Montana this summer and hopefully getting some more images of both the juveniles and adult.
This Northern Harrier took about a minute to expel the pellet and I filled my buffer several times trying to catch all the action. The harrier appeared to be concentrating so hard on regurgitating the pellet that it nearly fell off of the fence.
There are times when I think an image might be worth a little extra work in post processing and this young male Northern Harrier image seemed worth the effort to repair a clipped wingtip.
I will have more opportunities with northern harriers in better light this winter and while I wouldn't consider this image perfect, I am happy with the results I obtained while photographing this "Gray Ghost".
I got excited while I was on the refuge when I spotted a female Short-eared Owl that flew up from the gravel road and landed on a fence post in a heavy, swirling fog.