{"id":15827,"date":"2014-09-14T05:21:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T11:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15827"},"modified":"2026-02-02T07:33:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T13:33:45","slug":"a-very-obliging-swainsons-hawk-juvenile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/14\/a-very-obliging-swainsons-hawk-juvenile\/","title":{"rendered":"A Very Obliging Swainson’s Hawk Juvenile"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Swainson’s Hawk portrait\u00a0– Nikon D810, f9, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited or setup<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I am back from another amazing\u00a0camping trip\u00a0to southwestern Montana and I am a bit exhausted but elated too. I saw clouds, sunshine, wind and snow and the lowest temp was 11\u00b0F. Brr! There were plenty of birds\u00a0some days\u00a0and a dearth of them at other times but all in all I am very pleased with the images I came back with.<\/p>\n

For three days I had fun photographing a very obliging Swainson’s Hawk juvenile in Beaverhead County<\/span><\/a> and by obliging I mean it was very approachable. Vehicles passed by at a distance of about 6 feet and it didn’t even flinch.<\/p>\n

I was able to get close ups of this juvenile from the road as it perched on a fence post and scanned the fields for grasshoppers. I just love the shades of browns, tans, and cream colored plumage of this light morph juvenile Swainson’s.<\/p>\n

I also appreciate the great look at the bill, lores, and luminescent eye.<\/p>\n

\"CallingCalling juvenile Swainson’s Hawk – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited or setup<\/span><\/p>\n

The young Swainson’s Hawk still called quite often for the adult that was nearby but out of the range of my lens and on the wrong side of the light. This young bird of prey will soon be making a journey of thousands of miles to South America if it hasn’t already headed that way.<\/p>\n

For the last couple of days in Montana it wasn’t at the location where I photographed it but I am not sure if they migrated or if the hundreds of cows that were moved into that area of the refuge kept them away.<\/p>\n

Over the next few days I will most likely be sitting at my computer culling a couple of thousand images and selecting some of them to share here on my blog along with the stories behind the images.<\/p>\n

It is good to be back home but it is always hard for me to say goodbye to the Centennial Valley and its wild inhabitants for the year. I’ll miss it.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Swainson\u2019s Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For three days I had great fun photographing two very obliging Swainson’s Hawk juveniles at the east end of the Centennial Valley and by obliging I mean they were very approachable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,608,206],"tags":[4021,2663,4200,4072,4142,4033,4169,2237,4067,4071,4946,4046,153,4034,4193],"class_list":["post-15827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-swainson-hawks","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-calling","tag-close-up","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-obliging","tag-portrait","tag-raptors","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3702.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-47h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16074,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/07\/swainsons-hawk-in-evening-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":15827,"position":0},"title":"Swainson’s Hawk in evening light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A month ago I was in the Centennial Valley of Montana camping and the hawks I spent the most time photographing were Swainson's Hawks.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Light morph Swainson's Hawk in flight over the Centennial Valley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/swainsons-hawk-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-2871.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/swainsons-hawk-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-2871.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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