{"id":170606,"date":"2026-01-15T06:08:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=170606"},"modified":"2026-01-15T07:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:36:08","slug":"a-beautiful-dark-morph-red-tailed-hawk-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/15\/a-beautiful-dark-morph-red-tailed-hawk-in-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"A Beautiful Dark Morph Red-tailed Hawk In The City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late yesterday afternoon I was driving between several of my favorite birding spots in the city when I spotted a large buteo perched in a tree next to the road in front of me. It was on the passenger’s side (the ‘wrong’ side) of my pickup, there was intermittent traffic on the road and I assumed it was the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk that hangs out in that area, so I decided to just drive on by and continue to my destination. I already have quite a few photos of that juvenile red-tail.<\/p>\n

But as I passed the hawk very close to me I could see that it was a spectacular adult dark morph Red-tailed Hawk and for me, that changed everything. I turned around and tried to figure out a way to safely photograph it going back. I waited until I could see no traffic coming behind me and drove forward until I was next to the hawk, where I stopped and fired off a couple of quick bursts without even turning my engine off.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

I had less than five seconds with the hawk before I could see a car coming behind me in my rear-view mirror, so I had to move on. In most of the shots I got the hawk was looking behind ‘him’ but in three of them, including this one, I had good eye contact.<\/p>\n

When it comes to birds, especially ‘special’ hawks like this one, I’m a greedy photographer so I decided to go around and try again. Maybe next time I’d have more time with the bird and besides, in these first shots he was partially side lit so it was my plan to drive a little further past him so I’d be almost exactly between him and the setting sun.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n

Here he is the second time. I think I like this shot a little better, despite the sticks coming out of the back of his neck.<\/p>\n

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If you prefer, here’s a vertical composition of the same photo.<\/p>\n

Once again, I only had about five seconds with the hawk before I could see another car coming behind me so I had to drive on. Greedy ol’ me decided to try a third time but when I turned around and came back, the hawk was gone. I never saw him again and it wasn’t for lack of trying to find him.<\/p>\n

These may not be great shots but I think he’s a great bird, especially in the city. I hope he sticks around.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes: <\/em><\/p>\n