Swainson's Hawk juvenile jumping to a new perchSwainson’s Hawk juvenile jumping to a new perch

I have returned from my trip to southwestern Montana and while it is good to be home I am going to miss Montana and the birds I photographed there.

I photographed a Swainson’s Hawk family for several mornings while I was in Montana and this is one of the juveniles I focused on. The two juveniles often perched on power poles, fence posts, and at times they could be found on the ground. This juvenile was jumping from the center pole to land on the insulator when I captured this pose. I like the wing position, the fanned tail, the look of concentration and how well the alulae (bastard wing) stand out. I did digitally remove a very out of focus wire at the upper left hand corner of this frame.

I took hundreds of images of the juvenile Swainson’s Hawks while they preened, perched, and begged for food so it will take me some time to go through them all and the other bird images I took on this trip.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Swainson’s Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.

* The alula is a small structure located at the joint between the hand-wing and arm-wing of birds and is known to be used in slow flight with high angles of attack such as landing. See: The Function of the Alula in Avian Flight