It Is Red-tailed Hawk Nesting Season
Red-tailed Hawk nesting season has started in northern Utah and I found a few pairs yesterday morning that have already gotten busy with nest building.
Red-tailed Hawk nesting season has started in northern Utah and I found a few pairs yesterday morning that have already gotten busy with nest building.
Today I am sharing two high key type images of an immature Red-tailed Hawk I photographed at Farmington Bay WMA.
This morning I wanted to share a few photos of a stunning rufous Red-tailed Hawk female that I photographed over a period of a couple of years.
Last month I spent twenty-eight lovely minutes photographing this first winter Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA.
Much to my delight I was able to photograph some birds on Christmas Day at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning.
Today I wanted to share some of the Christmas Day bird photos I have taken through the years out in the field and close to home.
Think carefully before you make a trip to Utah to photograph our overwintering Bald Eagles in the valley. The inversions are awful and can be life threatening.
I found an immature Red-tailed Hawk in the marsh at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday and spent 28 minutes photographing it including when a Northern Harrier harassed it.
Yesterday morning the first birds I spotted and photographed was a pair of adult Red-tailed Hawks side by side on a rocky ledge in early morning light.
Even though it is now four years later I still look for this striking leucistic Red-tailed Hawk in Tooele County and hope to find and photograph it again one day.
I spent sometime at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning where my best bird of the day was an immature Red-tailed Hawk resting in a tree.
I noticed immediately that the Red-tailed Hawk was on prey because I saw it tearing into something despite the grasses that were partially obstructing my view.
I don't usually share photos where the main subject is facing away from me but I liked the alert pose of this raptor as it perched in the dead but distant juniper tree.
I had a great time photographing three recently fledged Red-tailed Hawks from two different nests in northern Utah yesterday morning.
The female Red-tailed Hawk blended into the lichen covered cliff face so well that even with my sharp eyesight I didn't see her until the male landed next to her.
In the event that our governor does force us into a total lock down I have enough images that I haven't shared here on my blog that I could post everyday for a year and still not run out of photos.
I keep wondering if I will see this big, gorgeous, rufous Red-tailed Hawk female in my viewfinder again this year.
When I spotted an adult Red-tailed Hawk on one of the pieces of rusty machinery two days ago on my way home from the auto tour route at the refuge I knew I had to get some photos of it.
This immature Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk is striking with those white polka dot spots on its back, I don't think I have ever seen a young Red-tail where the white spots on the scapulars are so pronounced.
The thing about this immature Red-tailed Hawk photo is this: I don't like the background color because I see these colors, tones and hues so frequently where I live in northern Utah.
I have to wonder though how many people walked or drove right past this young Red-tailed Hawk and never noticed that it was even there
There are times when one bird can make my day and yesterday that bird was an immature Red-tailed Hawk that I spotted just before heading home after a trip into the mountains that included fog and other challenges.
I spent 26 minutes yesterday photographing juvenile Red-tailed Hawk siblings and had a blast watching them preen, lift off, flying, scratching, resting and landing.
What is better than photographing a male Red-tailed Hawk? Photographing the hawk with blooming wildflowers, in this case Gray's Biscuitroot.
When I heard a call to my left I glanced in that direction and saw a female Northern Harrier flying towards the Red-tailed at break neck speed.
The best bird I spotted that I could photograph was a male Red-tailed Hawk resting on a cliff face and what I loved about this photo was all the grasses, lichen, wildflowers and the sage high up on the cliff.
Justice has been served in the case of Richard Parker killing the 150 raptors but that does not bring those valuable raptors back. Parker should be glad that I wasn't his judge.
I had a great time photographing this beautiful rufous Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning and I'm glad I had good light when I did.
By the time I took this next image in the series the Red-tailed Hawk had straightened her legs, her wings were high over her body and she was pushing off from the rock.
I'm happy to see that the rufous female Red-tailed Hawk does have a mate and that they are building a nest to raise their young in, I hope they are successful.