Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk Takeoff And Flight Series

The dark color morph of the Ferruginous Hawk is unusual, significantly less than 10% of the population in North America. Since Ferruginous Hawks of any color are uncommon (Sibley calls them “rare”), the dark morph is a very narrow slice of that uncommon group and Ferruginous Hawks in general are such regal and impressive hawks I’ve been enamored of this bird ever since I found “him” a couple of weeks ago.

And he continues to stick around. I’ve found him in the same area on three different occasions recently.

 

All that should explain in part why I’m posting this series even though I wasn’t particularly close to the hawk while he was perched or in flight. I found him on this juniper fence post six days ago in the west desert near one of our island mountain ranges out there.

As you can probably tell from his ruffled feathers and orientation on the post he was facing into the wind so there was a good chance he’d take off in my direction instead of turning around on the post and flying away from me.

 

 

And eventually he did.

 

 

Liftoff.

 

 

This is the single photo from this series that I posted four days ago. In this version I’ve reprocessed the image and cropped it differently.

Ferruginous Hawks are known for having massive bodies, robust chests…

 

 

and a very wide gape that extends all the way back to or even slightly past their eye as we can see here.

 

 

In this photo I nearly clipped his left wing.

 

 

Here he’s beginning to…

 

 

bank slowly to his right so he’ll eventually fly across my field of view.

 

 

There isn’t much detail in some of the whites of his right wing in this photo but the whites aren’t blown. The same thing happens again in the last shot of this series.

 

 

In these last two photos I didn’t get any light in his eye but…

 

 

I liked them well enough to include them anyway, especially this one because of his steep banking angle which allowed us a good look at his flared white tail in good light.

I’ve presented this series of eleven photos in the order they were taken but there are skips. Readers can tell where I’ve skipped images and how many I’ve left out by looking at the photo file numbers that can be seen by passing your cursor over the image if you’re using a mouse (that doesn’t work on most portable devices).

Those shots were skipped mostly because of clipped or cut off wings. Hate it when I do that…

Ron

 

Image techs for these photos were: 1/3200 – 1/8000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender. Shutter speed shot up as the hawk gained elevation and the sky got brighter (I shoot in aperture priority).

Note: Here’s a couple of photos of a much more typical light morph Ferruginous Hawk for comparison:

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 Comments

  1. Every photo is a joy to view. I can’t help thinking in the first two photos that he’s getting ready to haul that post off somewhere:)

  2. Very Nice, I am glad he is sticking around for you. I am still partial to the light furgies.

  3. Kent Patrick-Riley

    You must feel wonderful getting such a fantastic series of shots of a rare bird. Congrats! And, as always, thanks much for sharing!

  4. Ron, you hit the “jackpot” with this series of photos. I scrolled through them several times with amazement of this beautiful Hawk. I found it interesting to note the position of the feet and when they get “tucked in” for full flight mode. The photo of the fanned tail is quite beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing these great photos.

  5. Oh just WOW! I can’t add much to what others have already said but thank you for this spectacular series. I’ve been lingering for a while over each one, taking in the glorious detail.
    I’m with you about the directions and mountains. Trouble is, here I’m surrounded by mountains–not the Rockies, but still. Thus, I have to use the sun now 😉

    • Laura, it drives me crazy when I leave the Rockies and don’t know which direction is which. And when I do finally figure it out I’ve lost my bearings again five minutes later. It happens every time.

  6. I have scanned up, I have scanned down. I have marvelled.
    Many, many thanks.

  7. You continually amaze me with your stunning photography !! I am so humbled !! I can’t keep my eyes off the last image !!

  8. I can’t get enough of this beautiful bird. And thanks for the light morph also. Just love those raptors ❤️
    The snow is piling up here in Lake Tahoe ❄️❄️
    PS… you need to find a kid for snow blowing ❗️ Be kind to your back😜

  9. I. Am. Gobsmacked. What a phenomenal series!!! I would have been content with the wing fling liftoff shot, but you kept going!!!

    Cue my big, goofy, grinning mug right here! 😄😜

  10. Absolutely breathtaking series of photos, Ron. Each one individually stunning and together simply inspiring. Just Wow!

  11. Excellent series of a very beautiful raptor Ron. Never a simple task to successfully follow a bird in flight. Love that last photo of the light morph hawk. If that was mine it would be framed and hanging on my wall.

  12. Gorgeous! Great series, Ron……. 🙂 They DO have a wide gape! Must be able to gobble good sized pieces of food… 😉 Another 6 – 8″ of snow – light fluffy stuff – since yesterday – wind is going to have a ball with it when it starts….. 🙁

  13. Such beautiful shots. Thanks, Ron.

  14. Raptors are my favorites, and especially your fantastic photos of them! These photos always remind me of my time living and working out West.

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