{"id":15883,"date":"2014-09-20T05:59:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T11:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15883"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:17:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:17:40","slug":"light-morph-swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/20\/light-morph-swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk Juvenile In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

While in Montana earlier this month I had several opportunities to photograph juvenile Swainson’s Hawks that were close and approachable but I didn’t always have great light.<\/p>\n

\"LightLight morph juvenile Swainson’s Hawk – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The light was at times plain awful because of storm clouds and spitting rain coming through the Centennial Valley and Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"StormyStormy weather over Wigeon Pond, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge – Nikon D200, handheld, f16, 1\/45, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The weather at times just plain sucked but those beautiful Swainson’s Hawk juvenile just couldn’t wait because of cold weather coming in (it got down to a low of 11\u00b0F a few days later) I thought the Swainson’s might\u00a0migrate soon.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0believe the cold did affect the grasshoppers which are the main prey of Swainson’s Hawks during their time in the northern hemisphere because I saw large flocks of ravens walking slowly through the grasses\u00a0where they were most likely eating grasshoppers like we eat popcorn while watching a movie along with smaller flocks of Swainson’s Hawks.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead on stare from a light morph juvenile Swainson’s Hawk\u00a0– Nikon D810, f9, 1\/400, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Even though the light conditions weren’t the best I knew my opportunities with these juveniles were limited and I wanted to photograph them despite the poor light.<\/p>\n

This particular Swainson’s juvenile that I spotted seemed to ignore passing pickups, cars and SUV’s and didn’t even flinch when they would rumble by just six to eight feet from it, maybe even closer. I could photograph them from the other side of the dusty road without disturbing the young hawks.<\/p>\n

The out of focus background in these\u00a0images show dried grasses at the lower edge of the frame then the darker gray\/blue area above it is distant mountains and above that in light gray is the stormy sky.<\/p>\n

\"LightLight morph Swainson’s Hawk juvenile with its eyes on the sky\u00a0– Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever a bird is close to me I feel honored that they allow me into their world where I can see the details in their plumage, the light reflecting in their eyes and watch their behavior through my lens. I know just how special that is even when it happens in cruddy light.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

While in Montana earlier this month I had several opportunities to photograph juvenile Swainson’s Hawks that were close and approachable but I didn’t always have great light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,608,206],"tags":[2663,4200,4033,4169,2237,4067,4071,2670,156,4063,2239,4034],"class_list":["post-15883","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-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-light-morph","tag-low-light-2","tag-raptor","tag-sub-adult","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t