{"id":84263,"date":"2020-04-22T05:17:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T11:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=84263"},"modified":"2020-04-23T06:22:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T12:22:37","slug":"red-tailed-hawk-takeoff-and-pre-nuptial-flight-yesterday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/22\/red-tailed-hawk-takeoff-and-pre-nuptial-flight-yesterday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk Takeoff And Pre-nuptial Flight Yesterday Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Including one of the more unusual photos I’ve ever posted to Feathered Photography.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the male of a mated pair of Red-tailed Hawks I found on some cliffs in northern Utah yesterday morning. When he took off from the top of the cliff his mate was perched on the side of the same cliff some distance away.<\/p>\n

At first I had no idea what his intentions were with this flight: Was he going off hunting? Going to join his mate? About to chase away an intruder? Just off on a joy ride in the sky?<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

But six frames in the burst later when he abruptly banked vertically and turned directly toward his mate on the side of the cliff I immediately had my suspicions about his intentions. Perhaps he was just going to join her but maybe, just maybe, he was feeling amorous and had mating on his mind.<\/p>\n

After all, he’d been watching her on the side of the cliff for quite a while and even though I have a hard time reading solicitation behavior in female Red-tailed Hawks I’m sure he isn’t burdened with that problem.<\/p>\n