molt – Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography

Molting One-Year-Old Red-tailed Hawk

By Mia McPherson|May 9th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, flight, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, molt, molting, one year old, perched, rapid, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, Second Prebasic Molt|

I also keep images of birds that look a bit messy because they are molting even if they aren't up to my standards, like this one-year-old Red-tailed Hawk that was rapidly molting the end of July in 2015.

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Ring-billed Gull In Earlier Than Normal Definitive Alternate Plumage

By Mia McPherson|January 17th, 2017|Categories: Birds, Ring-billed Gulls, Salt Lake County, Utah|Tags: adult, breeding plumage, comparison, Definitive Alternate Plumage, Definitive Basic Plumage, early molt, gull, gulls, Larus delawarensis, molt, nonbreeding plumage, Ring-billed Gull, urban, winter|

I start seeing some Ring-billed Gulls in breeding/Definitive Alternate Plumage in February but I sure didn't expect to see this one on the third day of January, I was quite surprised by it.

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Partially Leucistic Adult Red-tailed Hawk in Flight – A Rare and Wonderful Sight!

By Mia McPherson|November 15th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Leucistic, Rarities, Red-tailed Hawks, Tooele County, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, Buteos, feather wear, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, leucism, leucistic, molt, molting, partial albino, Partially leucistic, raptors, rare, rarity, red tailed hawks, Red-tailed Hawk|

When the partially leucistic Red-tailed Hawk lifted off from the power pole I was able to capture photos of it in flight and I was stunned by the beauty of the hawk, pictures do not do this bird justice.

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Tattered Looking Molting Red-tailed Hawk

By Mia McPherson|June 26th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Red-tailed Hawks, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Utah, immature, lift off, molt, molting, perched, raptors, red tail, Red-tailed Hawk, sub-adult, subadult, tail bands, tail feathers, tattered|

This time of the year I see plenty of molting Red-tailed Hawks and they can look pretty tattered, worn and shabby.

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An Intriguing and Very Tame Northern Harrier

By Mia McPherson|May 28th, 2016|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Northern Harriers, Utah|Tags: birds of prey, Circus hudsonius, First Spring, goofy, harrier, harriers, hawk, hawks, male, Marsh hawk, molt, Northern Harrier, perched, plumage, preening, raptors, rousing, tame, young|

While I have been photographing Short-eared Owls in northern Utah I have come across this intriguing and very tame Northern Harrier over and over in the same location.

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Molting Immature White-crowned Sparrows

By Mia McPherson|April 13th, 2016|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Davis County, Utah, White-crowned Sparrows|Tags: adult, cheeks, close up, crown, desert island, immature, molt, molting, portrait, sparrows, stripe, White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys|

April in northern Utah is a good time to see and photograph molting immature White-crowned Sparrows.

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Antelope Island Chukars – From Chicks to Adults

By Mia McPherson|March 29th, 2016|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Chukars, Davis County, Utah|Tags: adult, Alectoris chukar, calling, chicks, Chukar, chukars, feather damage, immature, juvenile, molt, molting, portrait, young|

Antelope Island Chukars don't just attract out of town visitors to the island, they still call in locals like myself to see, hear and photograph them.

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Trumpeter Swan Cygnets and Preening, Pin Feathers and Molt

By Mia McPherson|September 18th, 2015|Categories: Beaverhead County, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Birds, Centennial Valley, Montana, Trumpeter Swans|Tags: cygnet, cygnets, Cygnus buccinator, Definitive Basic Plumage, juvenal plumage, juveniles, lake, leucistic, molt, pin feathers, preening, primaries, swan, swans, Trumpeter Swan, water, young|

In my last post on the Trumpeter Swan Cygnets On Elk Lake I mentioned that the cygnets spent a lot of time preening and part of the reason they do is they are molting.

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Swainson’s Hawk in Box Elder County

By Mia McPherson|June 30th, 2015|Categories: Birds, Box Elder County, Swainson's Hawks, Utah|Tags: adult, attack, birds of prey, boulder, Buteo swainsoni, Buteos, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, lichen, lift off, mimids, Mimus polyglottos, molt, molting, Northern Mockingbird, perched, raptors, sage, sagebrush, Swainson's Hawk|

I am always happy to photograph Swainson's Hawks no matter where I find them so I was pleased to find this one perched on a lichen covered rock yesterday in Box Elder County, Utah.

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Double-crested Cormorant coming in for a landing

By Mia McPherson|March 9th, 2015|Categories: Birds, Double-crested Cormorants, Florida, Fort De Soto County Park|Tags: birds, coast, coastal, cormorant, cormorants, Double-crested Cormorant, flight, flying, Gulf of Mexico, landing, landing pose, molt, molting, Nannopterum auritus, Pinellas County, sky|

I'm glad the Double-crested Cormorant didn't decide to relive itself as it came in to land or I might have been wearing white-wash!

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Immature Black-billed Magpie

By Mia McPherson|August 2nd, 2014|Categories: Antelope Island State Park, Birds, Black-billed Magpies, Davis County, Utah|Tags: Black-billed Magpie, corvids, desert island, immature, juvenile, magpie, magpies, molt, molting, Pica hudsonia, plumage, primaries, scruffy, stretching, summer, tail, teenage, wing stretch, young|

Right now on Antelope Island State Park teenaged birds are molting into their adult plumage including young Black-billed Magpies.

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Scruffy sub-adult Swainson’s Hawk

By Mia McPherson|November 17th, 2013|Categories: Beaverhead County, Birds, Centennial Valley, Montana, Swainson's Hawks|Tags: birds of prey, Buteo swainsoni, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, molt, molting, raptors, scruffy, sub-adult, Swainson's Hawk|

Seriously, I wish I understood more about molting with many of the raptors including Swainson's Hawk and perhaps if I ever find some free time I will attempt to study molt patterns more closely.

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Ragged Red-tailed Hawk In Molt

By Mia McPherson|August 3rd, 2013|Categories: Beaverhead County, Birds, Montana, Red-tailed Hawks|Tags: adult, bird photography, birds of prey, Buteo jamaicensis, flight, flying, hawks, molt, molting, predictable molt, primaries, ragged, raptors, red tail, red-tailed, Red-tailed Hawk, summer, worn|

Many of the adult Red-tailed Hawks that I saw and photographed in southwestern Montana on my last trip had worn feathers and were molting.

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Simple Red-tailed Hawk photo from Montana

By Mia McPherson|July 30th, 2013|Categories: Beaverhead County, Birds, Montana, Red-tailed Hawks|Tags: adult, Buteo jamaicensis, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Montana, molt, molting, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, sky, summer, valley, Western Red-tailed hawk|

This adult Red-tailed flew by at close range which gave me a very nice view of the underside of its wing that shows it was also molting though it didn't look as raggedy as some of the other adult Red-tailed Hawks looked.

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Adult Red-tailed Hawk in a Montana Sky

By Mia McPherson|June 17th, 2013|Categories: Beaverhead County, Birds, Montana, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Red-tailed Hawks|Tags: adult, buteo, Buteo jamaicensis, flight, flying, hawk, hawks, Hawks of Montana, male, molt, molting, raptors, Red-tailed Hawk, sky|

There are issues with this image which I will cover shortly but I really liked the pose of this Red-tailed Hawk, the spread of the wings, the flared tail and the great eye contact I was able to capture as the Red-tail looked down towards me as it flew in a bright blue Montana sky.

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